


Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll

by ineedthislikeaholeinthehead



Category: American Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, The Hobbit RPF
Genre: Addiction mention (alcohol), Anal Sex, Asexual Character, Biphobia, F/M, Frottage, Illegal Drug mention (Weed), M/M, Oral Sex, Top!Richard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-04 11:05:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5331881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineedthislikeaholeinthehead/pseuds/ineedthislikeaholeinthehead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee (Pace) is a Disc Jockey running away from a bad relationship and a lot of self loathing with his best friends Evie (Evangeline Lilly) and Aidan (Turner).  They're trying to settle down with a new gig when one of the town's most influential citizen's Graham (McTavish) asks them to help organize the local Holiday Charity Concert.<br/>Between the new job, the new town, and his new volunteer responsibilities, the last thing Lee needs is a relationship. But when he meets the dreamy Richard (Armitage) lead singer of local favorite band, Durin's Gold, he can't help himself. Richard wasn't looking for anything new, either, but once he and Lee get together, things start looking up for both of them.  That is, until Lee's ex-boyfriend, Luke (Evans) and his new flame Orlando (Bloom) come into town and start mucking things up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll

**Author's Note:**

> Richard and Lee are definitely aged down. IRL I know they're Gen X, but there is no way to escape that I wrote them as probably older millennials (like me.) 
> 
> This is sort of set in my hometown of Riverside, CA...but I think there are definitely about 500+ towns in America that are similar enough to relate. There are also 18 American towns named Riverside, so...there's that fact, too.
> 
> I feel like I used a lot of idioms in this one, and I know that those can be a pain in the ass for non-native English speakers. I apologize, I've lived in Texas and California my whole life, and I use just an enormous amount of idioms in my every day speech. PLEASE leave me a comment if something doesn't make sense, and I will be happy to explain it.
> 
> Oh, and I suppose it goes with out saying, but just in case, Rich Lee and every one else are owned only by themselves, this is a complete work of fiction, and I have no rights to anything.

“Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.” finally ended, and Lee was back on the mic as soon as it did. 

“Hey guys. I realize it’s a bit early for Christmas songs.”

“Says who?” His producer, the always chipper even at 3:30 in the morning, Evie, butts in. 

“Says the Calendar, Evie.”

“You’re never too early for Christmas.” She tells him. He turns to her and rolls his eyes, then turns back to the mic. 

“Well, I think you might be in good company then. We have Graham McTavish as our guest tonight-”

“Tonight?” Their sound engineer butted in. Because apparently, after 2 on a Saturday night the common courtesy given to DJs didn’t exist, and just about anyone in the booth can say whatever they want on live radio. “As opposed to other nights when we have guests?”

“Thanks for that, Aidan.” Lee turns around and flips him off. Aidan returns the favor, showing him two black painted nails on his middle fingers, and sticking out his pierced tongue (not the worst of the piercings he could stick out) to boot. 

Lee doesn’t exactly know what Aidan’s aesthetic is, just that it’s not punk, which he gets annoyed if you call him, even if he does look like a Ramones reject. “Anyways, some of you may know Graham because he own’s McTavish’s bar,” McTavish’s was one of the more popular hangouts in the...it was weird to call Riverside a city. Not that it wasn’t one, but it was basically a glorified college town- where the college wasn’t that great. But it was the closest thing to a city in a hundred mile radius, and Graham virtually owned live entertainment in the city. “But he’s also the organizer for this year’s Christmas concert.”

“We’re actually calling it a Holiday concert this year, Lee.”

“I’m sure everyone’s happy about that.”

“Well, frankly, it’s about time we invite everyone in our community into this concert, and I don’t know if you knew this, but there are actually people who don’t celebrate Christmas.”

“Well, even at 3:30 in the morning, I think we’re going to get calls about that, so why don’t we talk about what you’re planning before we get booed off air.”

“I’m actually here to get the word out that we’re doing an all local show this year.” Lee wasn’t sure he’d heard that. Maybe Graham didn’t know how this worked. You go out, you get a relatively well known band to give you a good deal, hike up ticket prices, and give half the proceeds to charity. 

“I don’t know if you’re on the right show to announce that kind of news.” He says, self deprecating humor was something you had to have when you had the worst show on the staff. 

“You’re selling yourself short, Lee. You’ve got all the drunks, the kids, the crazy insomniacs listening to you. And a good lot of those are in halfway decent garage bands. And if you’re out there, this is your chance. I’m having audition’s every Tuesday and Thursday for the next six weeks at McTavish’s.”

“Well, you guys inexplicably heard it here first. What about underaged kids?”

“They drink free.”

“He’s joking. Please...don’t call us about that.”

“Sorry, We have wristbands and permits in place for underaged kids. And if you bring your single moms, you drink free.”

Lee gives Aidan the cue to cut to commercial. He can’t piss off Graham McTavish, because he’s on the low rung of the ladder here. 

He’s only been in Riverside for a few months, escaping a bad break up and a shitty job, or rather, trading one shitty job for another one, but one where his ex-boyfriend isn’t his direct manager...so, relatively less shitty in that respect at least. There is positively no reason that Evie should have come with him, other than she’s the one who introduced him to Luke. Aidan would have come any where. He’s practically a street urchin. A street urchin who is NOT a punk. 

He doesn’t want to get on any one’s bad side when this is such a small market and there are only a few players involved. He doesn’t want to get on any one’s bad side when this whole stupid town is so small he’s no doubt going to run into Graham when he’s grocery shopping or something equally mundane. And he definitely doesn’t want to get on any one’s bad side when McTavish’s is the only place that sells anything even remotely close to halfway decent beer in a 100 mile radius. 

But, at the same time, he very much wants to jump down Graham’s throat for announcing something really big (you know, relative to Riverside) on his show, which means he’s going to look like he was in on it, and get shit from Ian for not letting them announce it on the morning show, with the real DJs, when actual people are listening. Ian wasn’t going to be happy about that underaged drinking joke, either. 

Graham can’t tell how much Lee is seething at the moment. Perhaps Lee’s become that good at concealing his feelings. Lord knows he’s had to do it before. But perhaps it’s just because Graham doesn’t seem to care. He always looks forward to being on the radio, makes up promotions and jumps on committees just so he has an excuse to have a wide audience like this. And sure, it’s just a bunch of burnouts and college kids listening right now, but he himself was a burnout college kid once, and look how far he’d come.

“Sorry about that little surprise.” He tells Lee. Lee swallows his annoyance, pretends that it doesn’t matter that he’s going to get off his shift, go home (because even McTavish’s will be closed by then) and be just about ready to fall asleep for the day by the time Ian’s awake enough to ream him. 

“You gotta do what you gotta do.”

“Don’t we all. I’ve a proposition for you.” Lee’s ears perk up. Because he can’t help but think of sex when he hears the word “Proposition.” Graham’s married, though. And not really his type, but the dating terrain out here is brutal, it’s practically a desert. Which Lee hopes explains his dry spell, and why he’s over eager to hear what Graham’s got to say. 

“Oh?” He treads lightly. This isn’t exactly backcountry, but he’s been trying to keep on the down low until he figures out what the culture’s like. 

“Judge the auditions for me.” Well, that was a let down, even if Graham wasn’t his type. 

“The..local only show you’re doing?”

“Yeah. You know music, you know talent. Help me find a line up people would be happy with.”

“May I speak frankly?”

“Of course.”

“I think people will be a lot happier with a big name band.”

“You have any idea how hard it is to get anyone under 100 to play in a podunk little venue like ours?”

“You’re not podunk, you’re..cozy...homey…”

“We’re as backwards as a baseball cap on a teenager’s head. Besides, even when you DO get some one, they charge us out the ass.”

“People understand that.”

“And all of the money we make selling tickets goes to paying the band and the crew. We almost never break even, and this is supposed to be a charity event. What’s the point of all this work if we don’t actually give anything back?”

Lee pauses. Graham makes a good point. 

“Lee, the people who chair this thing. It’s a bunch of grannies and debutantes.” Lee didn’t realize that Riverside had a large debutante population. “They mean well, but they don’t know shit about this business. I only took the gig because I want them to actually make money. But in order for that to work, I need good people who really know their shit. Like you guys.” He says, pointing to Evie and Aidan. “And you.” He looks at Lee. Lee thinks for a minute, then gets on the direct line to the booth. 

“Evie, did you tell Graham that I have Tuesdays and Thursdays off?”

“I might have done that when he called a few weeks ago, Lee.”

Lee sucks his teeth for a minute. He wasn’t really interested in judging a bunch of greasy teenager’s One Direction cover bands. He preferred to spend his days off curled in a ball around a tub of ice cream, mourning the death of his sex life, and welcoming the onset of middle aged chub that came with using ice cream as a replacement for an asshole ex-boyfriend. 

He had a feeling that these current life choices might have something to do with why Evie was pulling strings with Graham McTavish. 

“We.” Lee points at the three of them, his newly drafted judge-co-conspirators, “Get free drinks all night.”

“Alright.” Graham says. “Except that one.” He points to Aidan. “That one gets cut off at 6. I’ve seen what happens on drink #7.” They shake hands and Graham leaves without saying goodbye to his radio audience. It’s fucking late. 

“Seven drinks?” Lee asks Aidan. 

“It was mostly beer.”

“Mostly?”

“There is literally no one to do in this town, Lee.” Lee rolls his eyes, even though Aidan is completely and 100% right. He wished they didn’t feel like brothers. But even the thought of Aidan in that way sort of skeeved him out. He was awesome, but him, Evie and Aidan were family, you don’t have sex with your family, even if you’re not related...even if you’re pathetically desperate. He hadn’t gotten that desperate...yet..oh god...please, never.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
If Richard had to take one more request, he was going to bloody kill himself. He understood that covers were what paid the bills and made these fucking yokels holler, but god damn for a set that was anything that had been written in this century. 

He walked behind the bar, grabbed a water bottle, and took a drink. 

“You know Graham doesn’t like you back here.” Adam reminds him. Adam looks like he shouldn’t be old enough to get in here, but he’s been manning the bar for years (probably since before he should have been old enough to get in.) Richard takes another drink of his water. 

“Graham can fuck right off.” He says. There are people waiting on the dance floor and the rest of the gang starting to get back into position. 

“Looks like your public awaits.” Adam says. He’s tempted to mix himself a drink, run outside for a quick smoke, or just hide in the bathroom playing candy crush, instead of what he does, which is finish his water, walk back on stage, and walk up to the mic.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Great set.” Graham tells them, as if he’d heard any of it. Martin nods his head in thanks, then takes his sticks and leaves. 

“Thanks, so much.” Dean says, zipping up the case on his bass and smiling widely. He would.

“You’re a right cunt, saying something like that.” Richard tells him. Graham takes a minute to breathe. 

“Do you want a drink?” He asks. Richard picks up his case and walks out without responding.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Get up.” 

“Ehhhhh.” Lee pulls a pillow over his head. 

“It’s time. Get up.” Evie throws the cleanest pair of Lee’s jeans over his stomach. 

“It’s not time...Time for what?” 

“We have to get ready for work.”

“It’s Tuesday, there’s no work on Tuesdays. You have to let me sleep in.”

Lee didn’t have an alarm clock, he had Evie who, on top of being his producer, was basically his mother for all the immature and lazy she had to put up with. But at least the cost of living here was nice enough they didn’t have to share a room. 

“If you don’t get up, I’m stealing all the hot water.” Aidan yells as he runs by, naked. At least they all had their own rooms...to escape to when Aidan decided he needed to cook, read, listen to music, or watch TV naked. 

“Steal all you want. I’m going back to bed.” Lee says, as if he’d ever left it. He’d come home, eaten macaroni and cheese, pulled the covers over his head and not moved since last night. 

“Don’t do it, Aidan.” Evie says, sitting down on the bed and resting her hand on Lee’s chest. “Lee, you have to get up. We have to go to McTavish’s.” 

“Ugh… Is that tonight?”

“That is tonight. And you got me into this, so you’re not getting out of it.” She says, standing up. 

“I got you into this? You got me into this, first!”

“Get up.” She says, not looking back as she walks out of his bedroom.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After the third grimy kid doing a Nirvana cover with no backup, Lee was beat. After the sixth, he was downright comatose. This night was never going to end, and Graham, with his cheery demeanor and weak drinks wasn’t helping. 

He finally sat down next to Lee while Evie excused herself. Aidan had long since weaseled his way out of this waste of an evening, no doubt out to find trouble. Which wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He always brought back stories, and at this point in his pitiful life, stories from Aidan were the only supplement to Lee’s on-the-brink-of-an-addiction internet porn viewings.

“Finding me some winners?” He asks, sliding over another watered down drink. Lee just gives him a death stare and Graham laughs. “Don’t worry. It’s just the first night. It will get better.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Word will get around. People will come out of the woodwork.”

“Graham, you’re not being realistic. Your market is too small to put this much pressure on it.”

“How would you know?”

“I happen to have just a little bit of experience.”  
“No, you don’t. You show up out of the blue from a million miles away, throw a couple of records on in the middle of the night when no one’s listening, and I haven’t once seen you at a local show. How the hell do you know anything about this market?”

“If I’m so useless, why’d you ask me to be part of your little commitee here?”

“Besides the fact that no one else would do it?”

“Sure, besides that.” Lee hadn’t known he’d asked anyone else. His ego was a little bruised, but he would soldier on. 

“You know your stuff. It shows, even in the middle of the night.”

“I thought you said no one listens to me.”

“Well, no one but me, maybe.” He stands up. “I’m cancelling Thursday’s auditions.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“There’s a show at Shark’s that night. You should be there.”

Lee had just gotten his Thursday night back. He wasn’t particularly excited at the prospect of giving it to Graham again. After all, those candy’s weren’t going to crush themselves. 

“I’ve already paid your cover.” Graham says. 

“And first drink?” Graham sighs and pulls out a 20, handing it over to Lee. 

“Jesus Fucking Christ, the whole lot of the music industry is a bunch of cheapskates.” He says and starts to walk out. 

“What band am I supposed to be looking at?” He asks. Graham calls back.

“Durin’s Gold.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
On Thursday night, Evie and Aidan made a point of being out of the house before Lee had a chance to drag them to another stupid hick bar. Some friends they were. 

Being that he was going pathetically stag (when wasn’t he, though?) Lee decided to put on a clean pair of jeans and actually pulls a comb through his shaggy hair. (What was the point of keeping up with hair cuts when he worked on the radio and he had nobody worth impressing any more?)

He got to the bar just as the warm up was leaving, and paid for his tardiness by having to stand in the back with his beer. The place was surprisingly packed, which was probably some sort of good sign...probably.

There was a little shuffling on stage as a somewhat young kid, and a positively middle-aged man set up, but once the lead walked onstage, the crowd- well, if you could call it a crowd- went wild. There were hoots and whistles and more than one female outburst, and when Lee finally saw the lead singer, he instantly understood what all the fuss was about. 

This guy was fucking gorgeous. Tall, muscular, with great hair and eyes that even from across the room made Lee swoon. Maybe a big nose, but who cares with a body like that? He smiles, laughs as if he thinks he doesn’t deserve the attention, and starts off with an introduction. 

Oh, god..he’s English. Lee has a thing for English guys...or rather, guys from the UK, because he’d been scolded too many times to count about the fact that you should never call a Welshman English, and if you did it to an Irishman, you’d be black and blue within a second. 

But this guy, with the hair and the muscles and those big blue eyes, was definitely English. 

Lee holds his breath as the music starts. He doesn’t know if he wants this guy to be amazing, and therefore give him an excuse to go talk to him, or if he want’s him to be terrible, so he doesn’t have to talk to him and find out he’s straight. There’s a part of Lee that wants to stay at this distance, just so he can keep the fantasy of him alive for a while. Lord knows he could use some fantasies that didn’t include getting back together with Luke, or celebrities he’d never have a chance of being in the same room with, much less fucking. 

But, the music starts, and he starts singing, and his voice is good. He’s singing a Muse cover, and it’s a weird choice for this audience, and sort of a weird choice for his voice. Not bad, just nothing you’d expect. They’re definitely better than what Lee had seen. But a packed bar is a lot different than a packed concert.

Then, he switched to original stuff, and Lee’s knees buckled. He knew exactly how good he was, and played the whole room. By the end of the set, there wasn’t a dry pair of panties in the room, and to top the evening off, he gave them all a smile and a wink as he flicked his pick into the crowd. 

Lee waited patiently at the bar until he saw the drummer come up.

“Great show.” Lee told him. The sandy haired man turned his head to give Lee the once over. 

“Thanks.” He says. It appears he’s English, too. And he’s kinda cute...in a “I haven’t had sex in 6 months and I’d pretty much fuck a leather couch at this point” sort of way… Which is exactly the sort of predicament Lee was in. 

“I’m Lee. I work at K-R-A-D”

“Is that pronounced Krad or K-Rad?”

“Well, it was pronounced K-Rad, but now that you say it, I am definitely putting in a suggestion for a name change.” The drummer laughs. His drink comes. “Let me get that for you.” Lee says, throwing down some cash. 

“Thanks. I’m Martin.” Lee puts out his hand.

“Nice to meet you.” Martin warily shakes it. “You guys were really impressive.”

“Eh. We’re ok.” Lee wants to ask him what he’s comparing himself to, but their bass player walks up next to Martin. “Dean, this is Lee. He works at the radio station.” 

“Krad?”

“Is that really what people call us?” He chuckles. 

“Lee thinks we’re impressive.” Martin says. Dean smiles. 

“Thanks a lot, man.”

“Thank you. Can I get you a beer or something?”

“I’m not going to say no to that.” They start talking about town, day jobs, Martin’s kids. They were pretty standard, nice dudes. Lee had forgotten how much fun socializing could be, it had been so long since he’d been allowed to do it, and once he was free, he hadn’t felt like doing it. 

Sexy pants- his name was Richard, Lee had tried not to squee too obviously when Martin had used it- stormed over to the bar. Lee had noticed he was tall, but he hadn’t noticed just how tall he was. 

Lee was abnormally tall. He was used to towering over everyone in the room, but Richard almost matched him. 

“Where the bloody hell have you lot been?” He asks. 

“We were talking with Lee here.” Martin tells him.

“Lee thinks we’re impressive and works for the radio station.”

“And he’s buying drinks.” Richard turns around and gives Lee a once over that makes his skin crawl in all the right ways. He hopes he’s not blushing too noticeably, but just being this close to him is giving him a heady high. It’s as if he’s being transported back to high school, when he used to sneak out of the house to hook up with terrible boys who played in terrible bands. 

“Oh, you work for the radio station.” He says with a smirk. “How glamorous.”

“Don’t start being a dick, Richard.” Martin warns. Lee gives a self effacing laugh. 

“It’s fine. You’re right, it’s not super impressive. Can I buy you a beer?” Richard looks like him like he’s trying to pierce his soul with those gorgeous blue eyes- which are even dreamier up close. In all honesty, he’s just trying to convince himself not to take Lee up on the offer. 

“No.” he says. The poor boy looks like he’s just been rejected for prom. Richard turns towards Martin. “Amanda’s been calling me every 10 minutes.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re out past curfew and you’re not picking up your bloody mobile.” Martin produces said phone and is shocked by the amount of texts and missed calls he’s got. 

“Fucking god fucking damn it.” He says. “Why didn’t you come sooner?” by this time, Richard has turned back around, focusing intently on Lee. 

“Because I’m not your bloody babysitter, now am I?”

“Not tonight.” He’s still scrolling through text. “I’ve got to get home.” he says. Richard waves him off. Dean’s standing there, watching Richard play predator to Lee’s prey. 

“Well…” He says. They’re not listening. “I guess I’ll just fuck right off then.” He says, and chases after Martin in hopes of getting a ride in the back of the van. 

There aren’t that many people left in the bar, it’s close to closing time, but Lee finally has Richard’s undivided attention, and he hates the thought of it ending this soon. Even if he can’t think straight with him so close. And he can’t pull out a single amusing anecdote or conversation starter. He hates himself for letting his casual dating skills disintegrate during a 3 year relationship and 6 month dry spell. But how the hell was he supposed to know that he was going to meet Adonis at a crappy little bar in Riverside?

It didn’t matter. Richard had sized him up the second he’d laid (those gorgeous) eyes on him. 

“How long you been in town?” He asks.

“A few months. I’m still learning the lay of the land.”

“There’s not much to lay around here.” Richard just comes out and says it. Lee laughs, the tension broken. 

“You can say that again.” He takes the last sip of his second beer. “So, why won’t you let me buy you a drink?”

“I don’t drink.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

“It’s bloody terrible. But it’s better than if I do.”

“I get that. I’ll probably regret this in the morning.” Lee says, holding up his empty bottle. Richard takes it, deliberately brushing his fingers against Lee’s. 

“Planning on doing anything else regrettable this evening?” he asks. Lee is sure he’s blushing now.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
They sneak into Lee’s place, lights off, tripping over the couch, Aidan’s shoes, Aidan’s jeans, Aidan, as they make their way to the bedroom. Lee doesn’t know why they’re sneaking. It’s not as if Evie’s going to do anything other than give him a high five in the morning for breaking the curse. Maybe it’s just the thrill of sneaking in with someone you barely know and desperately want. Lee can’t even remember the last time he was this reckless, but it was a long time ago. 

As soon as the door’s closed, Richard is all over him. His lips taste so good. Lee doesn’t know what he’d imagined them tasting like, but whatever it was, it couldn’t compare to the reality of them. He takes his hand and puts it around the back of Lee’s neck, hungrily pulling him closer. The heat emanating from their parched mouths and souls was palpable to say the least. 

Lee tore off his own shirt, and immediately went for Richard’s belt as he pulls of his shirt. When Richard’s pants are undone, Lee savors the moment as he slips his hands inside, his fingertips brushing against one of the biggest cocks he’s ever seen...in real life. His eyes go wide, he licks his lips and the look of him is absolutely intoxicating, Richard pulls him back in for a scorching lip lock that makes Lee so weak in the knees that he topples over the bed. 

Which is all well and good for Richard, who puts his knee between Lee’s legs, and presses him against the wall with another kiss. They fumble together to remove their trousers and shoes, and in the dim light peaking through the window, they take the briefest of moments to marvel at each other. 

Richard is aching, and not just physically. He’s been so caught up in anger and sobriety, he can’t remember the last time he’d shared a moment of clarity with anyone, even a moment like this, which was lust and loneliness and so many other confusing things jumbled together. He didn’t know Lee, but he already knew that he trusted something about him. 

Perhaps it was just the desert. Richard had been stuck in this barren, loveless life for so long, all he could remember was dysfunction and desperation. And there was no reason to think that this, that Lee, was anything other than yet another fumbling mistake waiting to happen. 

But there was something about him, the adorable, awkward, giant disc jockey, that was undeniably delicious, worth the risk, worth the inevitable disappointment. 

Lee wasn’t opposed to a random hook up. God knows he needed one. But he wasn’t exactly expecting it in this town, with its limited (very limited) dating pool, and lots of nosy citizens. It wasn’t that he had any problem with being gay. Trust, there were very many things about being gay that he positively loved. He just wasn’t the type to publicize. Which..can be a detriment when you’re single. It had taken Luke 2 months to even figure out that he was an option. 

No! Don’t think about Luke when you’ve got someone like Richard on top of you! He reminds himself. 

He moves Richard’s hair off his neck so he can kiss him, and notices a tattoo there. Lee isn’t one for ink, normally, but he’s already caught a tattoo on Richard’s arm, one low on his stomach and now, on his neck. He files this fact aways, potentially for future questioning. If things go right...and oh god, they certainly feel like they’re going right as Richard reaches between Lee’s legs, under his underpants, and wraps his fingers around his cock. 

It has been far too long since anyone other than he himself has done this, and Lee is trying his hardest to fully enjoy the experience while making sure that he doesn’t enjoy it too quickly. What was it you were supposed to do? Think of baseball teams? Lee doesn’t know anything about baseball, so he lists off the names of all The Beatles original records, in chronological order.

Richard must be a mind reader, because he can tell Lee isn’t fully focused on him, and is grossly offended, kissing Lee so hard he feels like he’s going to merge with the wall behind him. He pulls off his own pants, Lee positively salivating at the sight of Richard, springing forth, practically slapping himself on the stomach. And then, he’s back, between Lee’s legs, and their cocks touch, sending a chill up both their spines. Lee wraps one of his big hands around both of them, slowly moving up and back down, soaking up every second of their friction and heat, and the way Richard’s breath feels on his lips. 

It doesn’t take much before Richard is there. Lee memorizes the way he moans, the sound of his name on Richard’s lips, and the second his come hits the tip of Lee’s cock, he’s careening over the edge of bliss as well, crying out for Richard as if they’d known each other for millennia. 

They both breathe heavy when it’s over. Lee grabs a T-shirt to wipe Richard’s come off his stomach, and then off his own, then lays down on the bed. It’s the moment of truth, and Richard doesn’t hesitate to lay down next to him. Which is so much less painful than if he’d stood up and immediately pulled on his trousers. 

He’s still panting, his arm on his forehead and his cheeks flushed. He looks over at Lee, who’s quietly looking at him. He pulls him down for a kiss, and when they finish, Richard smiles. He’s got an amazing smile, and even after coming, Lee can feel that wobbly feeling in his knees. Richard runs a few fingers through the smattering of hairs (Nothing compared to his own) in the middle of Lee’s chest. 

“You have anything on in the morning?” he asks. 

“Maybe breakfast.” Lee tells him. 

“With who?”

“With you.” he says, and Richard smiles.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lee wakes up first. Evie isn’t even up yet. Aidan won’t be up for days...unless someone cooks. And next to him, Lee sees Richard is sound asleep. He takes a minute to marvel at the man in his bed. He’s even more gorgeous in the daylight. 

Lee doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. He doesn’t know anything about Richard, except the fact that he’s gorgeous, hung, and can sing like an angel. And while all of that is very nice in theory, no one in their right mind would get attached so quickly. Especially considering their circumstances.

But there was something about Richard that Lee had felt a connection to the second he’d seen him. And it wasn’t just because he’d been on stage. Lee had been through that before. He’d spent his entire adolescence doing that. He knew first hand what it was to be a groupie. This was different. 

If he’d passed Richard in the cereal aisle at the grocery store, he still would have felt knocked out by the power of him. Not just his looks, which were utterly flawless in a way that Lee couldn’t put his fingers on, but his aura, the way he held himself. Even now, as he was sleeping, the way he simply was drove Lee crazy. Not just his cock, like he’d encountered so many times before. There was a fire in his heart, and Richard fanned it. 

His eyes popped open and he caught Lee looking at him. There’s a split second of complete silence where Lee’s heart stops beating, then, Richard smiles, and yawns and turns to face Lee. 

“Morning.” He says. 

“Just barely.” Richard stretches his body, meaning Lee is chest to chest with him.  
“I believe someone promised me breakfast.” Lee smiles at him, then sits up and climbs over him to find anything that resembles clothes. 

“What do you want?” He asks. Richard stands up, finds his trousers and grabs a T-shirt (not the one they’d used the night before.) 

“Do you mind if I borrow this?”

“Of course not.”

“Thank you. I don’t really know what I want.”

“Pancakes? Waffles? Biscuits?”

“Biscuits for breakfast?”

“No…not biscuits...Like..scones I guess.”

“Right. No, none of that really sound appetizing.”

“Great. Because I don’t have any of it anyways.”

 

“Well, solved that problem before it even started.” Richard looked amazing in Lee’s shirt. It stretched around his arms, just a little of the tattoo sticking out, and the perfect amount of chest hair poked out of the V. Lee walked over to him, and traced the design of the tattoo. 

“What’s this mean?” He says, unable to make out the script it’s written in. Richard pulls his arm away from Lee. 

“It doesn’t mean anything.” He brashly answers. Lee’s caught off guard. He’s inadvertently hit a sore spot. “Sorry. It was, it was just a mistake.”

“Sucks to be stuck with a mistake you’ve got to look at everyday.” Lee says, remembering being looked at like a mistake every day. 

“I try not to look at it.” Richard says. “Good thing I didn’t get it on the inside of my eyelids, I suppose.” He’s trying to lighten the mood. Lee laughs half heartedly. It’s more that Richard deserves, for everything that Lee had already categorized as perfect, he’s a terrible joke teller. 

“I can make bacon and eggs.” Lee offers. 

“That sounds fantastic.” Richard tells him, and follows Lee out to the kitchen. This time making sure to walk over, instead of on top of, Aidan.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Aidan and Evie both wake up with the smell of bacon. When they see the big, sexy English bloke leaning on their fridge, they say nothing until Lee turns around and greets them. 

“Hey.” He says, and then turns back to monitor the bacon. “This is Richard.”

“Much obliged.” He says, his hand up in greeting. Lee turns back around, holding a spatula. 

“That’s Evie, and that’s Aidan.” He says as he points to them, and turns around again, this time responding to a loud greasy POP! “They’re my roommates. And coworkers. And basically my family.” he says. 

“Wonderful to meet you.” Richard says. Aidan takes him in. 

“Go fucking figure, you find the one hot guy in this fucking town who isn’t straight.” Richard laughs. He is not hot. 

“Well, you’ve just given me an ego boost.” Lee turns around and pecks him on the lips. It’s too early for this domestic shit. He knows. He can’t help himself. Lee hasn’t known him even a full 24 hours. He’s in full-on in lesbians with this guy.

“He’s right though.” he says. Richard has the urge to spin Lee around and plant a kiss on him, bacon be damned. But he’s English, and Lee’s roommates are there, and he’s smarter than that. Don’t scare the guy away. He doesn’t even know his middle name yet. 

“You two work at the station with Lee?” Richard asks. 

“Yeah.” Evie says. She’s not sure if she likes this one. He’s cute. Lee liked cute, a lot. Cute got him into trouble, a lot. She didn’t want him getting hurt again just because he had a tendency to think with his cock too much. “What do you do?”

“He’s in a band. Can you pull out the plates for me, Evie?” Evie walks by Richard never taking her eyes off him. Aidan gets out juice, and Richard fumbles around the kitchen helping with utensils and glasses and anything else they tell him to do, and they all sit down to breakfast. 

Between bites (barely) Aidan starts asking questions. 

“You’re in a band?” He asks Richard, who takes a sip of juice before answering. 

“Yes, I am.”

“Like, full time?”

“I pick up a few odd jobs here and there, but for the most part.”

“Are you going to play the Christmas Concert?”

“The McTavish concert?”

“Yeah.” Richard looks confused.

“No, that’s for real bands. You know, grammy winners and the lot.”

“Not this year. We’re doing it all local.” Richard looks from Aidan to Evie to Lee. 

“We’re?” Lee finishes the bite of egg in his mouth. 

“Yeah. We’re kind of the search committee. Which, I probably would have gotten to talking to you about after breakfast.” He shoots annoyed daggers at Aidan, who is blissfully unaware. 

“So, you’re working with Graham?”

“Yeah…” Richard stands up.

“I think It’s about time I go.” He says. 

“Oh...ok. Just give me a second, I’ll give you a ride.”

“It’s no problem. I’ll just walk.”

“We’re like, 5 miles away.”

“I need the exercise.” He says. Lee jumps up as Richard is walking out the back door. This does NOT look good, and he knows he’s going to be getting an earful from Evie. He happily closes the door behind them. 

“Did I do something to offend you?” Lee asks. 

“I hope not intentionally.” 

“I wasn’t… I don’t want you to think I was trying to seduce you into being in the concert or anything.”

“I don’t even know why any one would do a thing like that.”

“Because, Richard. You’re really talented. I do hope you’ll do the concert. But that’s not what last night was about.”

“Alright.” Lee feels like he’s losing him, and it’s breaking his heart, because he’s only just found him to begin with. 

“Can we talk about what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing that you’ve done, I promise.”

“Then what is it?”

“Graham and I have a complicated relationship…”

“I kinda got that vibe from him.”

“What vibe.”

“You know...bisexual.” Richard didn’t have time to deal with the way Lee had just said bisexual. 

“It’s not that sort of complicated.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Look, I’m sorry if I gave your roommates the wrong impression. I promise you haven’t done anything to offend me.”

“In that case...will I see you again?” Richard smiles. He’s not exactly in his right head at the moment, but the way Lee is looking at him, hopeful and doe eyed and gorgeous, he can’t help but feel very, very lucky...not a feeling he was used to. 

“Definitely.” Lee pecks him on the lips. 

“Ok.” he says, walking back inside. “Call me.” Richard waves him off, still smiling as he turns around and walks away.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Richard takes his time, and it’s a good hour before he makes it into McTavish’s. He happily takes note of how dismally scarce the lunch crowd is as he walks up to the bar. Adam is already there, though there’s no one around looking for alcohol yet. 

“He’s not in.” He tells Richard, who’s walking through the kitchen to the office. When he gets there, he’s surprised to see…

“Lara?” She looks up from her paperwork, and his heart almost skips a beat. Please, Lara, whatever you do, don’t smile. But she does, and she stands up, and walks over to Richard, wrapping her arms around him like it’s been ages.

It has been ages. He makes a point of knowing when she’ll be here, and not being here. He makes a point of avoiding her at every cost. It’s so much easier this way. 

“Richard! Oh, you look wonderful.”

“Oh please. I look like an old man who hasn’t had enough sleep.” She sits back down behind the desk. 

“I’m sure you’ve got a good reason for that.” She smiles knowingly. “A special little lady who’s keeping you out too late.” She winks. He breathes in. 

“Something like that, I suppose.”

“I remember that Richard.” Richard remembered when Lara knew that person, too. He remembered all too well. “Some things never change.” She’s smiling, but there are sour memories between the two of them, and he knows she’s talking about those, two.

“And then, some do.” He reminds her. He’s still trying to show her, after all this time. 

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” she asks. 

“I was looking for Graham.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. He’ll be here in a few hours.”

“Right. Then I suppose I’ll come back.”

“Unless you’d like to have lunch with me.” She offers. 

“I really shouldn’t.”

“People to see, places to be?”

“That’s the truth.” He lies. 

“Alright. Wonderful seeing you again…”

“Of course.” Richard walks to the door, stops and turns back around to look at her. “Lara?”

“Yes?”

“You didn’t, give up being chair of the Christmas Concert this year, did you?” 

“Did you hear about that?”

“Only a few murmurings.”

“Well, it’s nothing you should hold your breath about, Richard.” There had been a time when he would have held his breath at any signs of a fight between Graham and Lara. But those times were past him. Lara was so far past him now. 

“Just asking the source about the rumors.”

“There shouldn’t be any rumors. I just don’t have time anymore for something like that.”

“Where’s all your time going?” he asked. She realizes that she’s let something important slip. 

“It’s sort of a secret...But I suppose it’s bound to come out sooner or later.” She stands up, and he doesn’t know how he could have missed it. “Graham and I are going to have a baby.” 

Of course they are. Richard is over Lara. He’s been over her for years. He’s happy with his life choices and couldn’t be happier for them…

“Congratulations.” He says, with clenched fists behind his back.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
He’s showered, and shaved, and not wearing Lee’s ridiculous (and adorable) shirt when he comes back that night. And Graham is at the bar, having a good time with a few regulars. Richard comes up and he excuses himself and immediately takes him to the office. 

“Lara told me you’d be coming by.” He says as he sits down, looking ridiculous in the chair that had practically dwarfed Lara. Richard sits across from him. 

“Oh, did she?” Richard says. “I suppose congratulations are in order.”

“She told you, did she?”

“Yes. So sorry I left my cigars in my other jacket.”

“I’m sure there will be more another time. Perhaps at the Holiday Concert.”

“Interesting subject to bring up.”

“Heard you were asking about it. So sorry Lara won’t have time to even pop in this year.”

“Oh, that is a shame… I met Lee.”

“Did you? Smart one, don’t you think?”

“Not really sure yet.”

“I thought he might be your type.”

“What type would that be?”

“Relax, Richard. You’re behind closed doors.”

“I don’t need you setting me up, and I especially don’t appreciate you sending dates my way as a bribe.”

“Richard, I’m going to be straight with you...can you handle it?” Richard doesn’t dignify this with an answer. “Durin’s Gold is the most popular band within a 50 mile radius of this town.”

“I’ve heard 100, but, please, go on.”

“This year’s concept doesn’t work unless we’ve got you headlining.”

“If we could sell out concerts, you wouldn’t be sitting there, would you, Graham?”

“Where I’m sitting is here: I’ve got a paying gig, and I know you need to pay the rent. How’s that sound?”

“And Lara’s not going to be there?”

“I’m not even going to be there. Lee’s doing the whole thing.”

“Does he know that?”

“He will, once I tell him.”

“I’ll talk to the rest of the band.”

“Oh, bullshit, Richard. You know they’ll do whatever you do. Don’t pretend you’re running a democracy.” Richard stands up. 

“I said, I’ll talk to them.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“What’s the gig again?” Martin’s restringing a guitar. He hasn’t played guitar for years, so much better is he on percussion. But he still likes tinkering around. He can’t help himself, he’s always tinkering with something. 

“Christmas Concert.” 

“As in the yearly one?” Dean asks. 

“Yeah.” 

“I don’t want to bloody open for some fucking washed up diva.”

“It’s not to open.” Richard says. 

“What?”

“It’s to headline.”

“How much does it pay?”

“Well, it pays money. Which is more than we can say about half our other gigs.”

“That’s all you have to tell me.” Dean says. As if either of them care what Dean’s opinion is. It’s not his fault. He can’t help being the outlier here. He’s young, he’s less experienced, though at this point, it’s been over 3 years that he’s stuck with them. No one before him had made it past a couple of weeks. Sometimes he was proud of this, sometimes he suspected everyone else had the right idea and he was an idiot. 

“Doesn’t Lara run that concert?” Martin asks. Richard clenches his jaw. 

“Not since she went and got herself pregnant.” Martin drops the guitar. 

“Lara is pregnant? YOUR Lara is pregnant?”

“She hasn’t been my Lara in a long time. And she’s not going to be there so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Who’d she pass it off to?”

“Graham.” Martin laughs. 

“Well, we’re bloody well not doing any favors for Graham.” 

“He’s turning it over to someone else.”

“Who?” Richard pauses before answering. 

“Do you remember that chap from the other night? From the radio?”

“Lee from Krad?” Dean supplies. Martin smiles knowingly. 

“Oh… Lee.” Richard closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. Martin is an expert at trying his patience, something he hadn’t really cared much about until he’d gone sober. 

“Yes.” He sighs. “Go on, you might as well get it out of your system.”

“What? I have nothing in my system.” Martin says, almost not containing his giggles. “If you need an excuse to stay close to this Lee. Then of course we’ll do the concert.” 

“I don’t need an excuse. The exposure will be good for us.”

“What exposure? The Women’s Auxiliary putting the show on Youtube?”

“It’s paying work, good exposure, and at least a couple of free meals. Why are you so against this?”

“I’m telling you I’m on board.”

“Wonderful. Thank you.”

“On one condition.”

“Oh?”

“We” He points to Dean, himself, then Richard. “Get to decide on the openers.”

“They’ve already got a team for that.”

“They can UN get a team, then.”

“Do you really want to sit around watching a bunch of terrible auditions?”

“Whoever we get has to have an acceptable sound. This is big league, if we sign on.”

“How do you figure?” Dean asks, and Martin stares him down. 

“Because I’ll be there.” He says. Richard tunes Martin and Dean out for a while, trying to figure out how he’s going to get him what he wants, wondering why he wants it at all, questioning why Durin’s Gold should bother with any of this, or if Martin’s right and he just wants an excuse to see Lee twice a week.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“I’m sorry Lee, I’m between meetings, and I can’t give this the time it deserves.” Graham says. He’s a bit staticy on the other side of the phone, like maybe he’s walking briskly. 

“Give what the time it deserves?”

“The Holiday Concert. I’m going to have to pull out.” 

“What?”

“I’ve just received some amazing news, but it means I won’t have the time to devote to the concert that it deserves. And I’ve spoken with the committee.” The committee being himself, of course. “And they really feel that you’re the man to pull us all the way through.”

“WHAT?”

“Lee, I know you can do this.” That was great for Graham. He really appreciated that Graham knew he could do this. Lee certainly didn’t know that he could do this.

“I don’t know if I can take anything else on. Considering how abysmal the talent search is going.”

“Oh, well, Durin’s Gold signed on as the headlining act.”

“They did?”

“Yeah. It was easy. All we had to do was agree to let them have some say with the opening search.”

“Does that mean that we’ll all be working together on it?” That eagerness in Lee’s voice was exactly what Graham was banking on. 

“Lee, it means you’ll be working very closely with the band for the next month and a half.”

“But, Graham, I don’t know about permits or parking or who has to order the food for the band.”

“That’s what you have the girls on the committee for. You concentrate on the big picture stuff, really communicate with Durin’s, even if it means sleepless nights and lots of passionate conversation. Really just focus on that, and everything else will fall into place.”

“Uh, are you sure?”

“Definitely. Can I tell the girls you’re a go?”

“Ummm, Ok. I guess so.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lee almost missed answering the call because he was so excited to see the number pop up. When he did open it, he forgot how to say hello. 

You’ve got to pull yourself together. He thought. But how could he? It had only been two days, and Richard was calling him. 

“Hello?” Richard said from the other line, because Lee had forgotten to speak.

“Hey.” 

“Lee?”

“Yeah. That’s who you’ve got.” That’s who you’ve got? Really? Who he’s got is a complete idiot! 

“How are you?”

“Fine. Great...Wonderful. You?”

“The same, I suppose. I know it’s short notice, but..there have been a few new developments with your Holiday Concert.”

“You’re telling me!” Jesus, jump down his throat why don’t you? Lee was fucking this up, he just knew it. But then Richard laughed, and all seemed well. 

“I was wondering if you’d fancy a bite to eat? Perhaps talking all of these developments out?”

Lee wondered if Richard could hear him smiling through the phone. 

“Yeah. That sounds great. Say, maybe...7:30?”

“Wonderful.” There’s a pause as both parties silently express their excitement. “Suppose I’ll see you soon.”

“Can’t wait.” Lee says. They hang up, and Lee falls on his bed like the 14 year old girl he apparently is, having no idea that across town, in his shithole apartment, Richard is doing the exact same thing.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Richard stands when he sees Lee enter the diner. It’s not crowded, but he wants to make sure he sees him, and he does, his smile something Richard can only think of as dreamy. He tries to mentally roll his eyes for being sappy, but it’s been so long since he’s felt even the stirrings of interest for someone, and he can’t help but give in to it at least a little.

“Hi.” Lee says as he reaches the table. 

“Hi.” Is the only thing that Richard can think to say back. They sit down across from each other, their knees almost touching under the table. As soon as Lee’s down, a waitress swoops in, handing them both menus and exiting again. 

“What’s good here?” Lee asks as he opens his menu. 

“Nothing.” Richard replys, and they both look up and smile at each other. Lee curses the butterflies in his stomach, and hides behind the menu until they both decide on burgers and order. With the waitress dispatched yet again, there’s nothing but awkward silence.

“Thanks for calling.” Lee says. 

“Thanks for answering.” Lee laughs. 

“Yeah, because that was hard.” Richard shrugs, takes a drink of water. “So...Holiday Concert.”

“Christmas Concert?”

“They changed the name.”

“You’re in charge now, you could change it back.”

“Everything’s already printed. Besides, Graham was right...it’s more inclusive.”

“What about branding? It’s been the Christmas Concert for years.”

“And it’s never made any money.”

“You’re taking this pretty seriously.”

“Should I not?”

“There’s nothing wrong with hard work, as long as you’re doing it for yourself.”

“I mean...it’s for a good cause.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

“What’s the good cause it’s for?” Lee paused. It wasn’t until that moment that he realized he had no idea what charity this was going to benefit.

“I’m sure it’s a good one.”

“Of course.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I happen to be...close..to the last two people who had your job, and I have to say, they were doing it more for attention than serious philanthropic devotion.”

“And you think I’m like that?”

“I’m only warning you against it.”

“Consider me warned.” Their food comes, and they both take a minute to dig in before talking again. “So, you want to pick the opener?” 

“Martin does.”

“Why? Not that I’m complaining. Just curious.”

“I think he’s trying to be my wingman.” Lee wasn’t expecting Richard to be so honest.

“Do you need one?” Richard laughs. 

“Probably. You tell me.” Lee bites his lip. He wants to reach over and kiss him right now. He also wants to take a cold shower, because he should be able to think straight for more than 5 minutes around someone, especially if he was going to spend the next 6 weeks working with that someone. 

“No.” He admits. “But don’t let Martin let on. I want to see what he’s going to do.”

“Alright.”

“I have to tell you, I’m kind of relieved about you guys signing on.”

“Not much entertainment around here.”

“Well, musically at least.”

“Yeah. Musically.” Richard says, smiling up at Lee to let him know he’d received the message, loud and clear.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The second Lee closes the door, Richard is all over him, pushing him against the wall with a thud that elicits a laugh from Aidan and Evie who are sitting on the couch. Richard jumps back, red as a tomato, and Lee just laughs. 

“Have a good dinner?” Evie asks. 

“Wonderful.” Lee says. Then he takes Richard’s hand and pulls him to his bedroom. Richard looks back at Evie and Aidan, who have already looked back at their books. Lee closes (and locks) his bedroom door with one hand while he pulls Richard close with the other. 

“Lee.” He says between kisses. “Lee, your roommates are right down the hall.”

“So?” He asks, moving down to Richard’s neck. 

“It’s a bit rude, don’t you think?”

“They were even closer last time.”

“They were also asleep.”

“I find it a little funny that you’re so worried about having an audience.” Lee says. “But if it bothers you so much, we can go to your place.” Richard thinks about this for a second. And immediately thinks the better of it when he remembers the absolute squalor he’s living in at home. 

“I’m fine.” He says, and pulls Lee onto the bed on top of him. And, after a few minutes of heavy petting, he really is fine with it. The thought that two other people knew exactly what was going on in Lee’s bedroom completely flutters away as Lee’s hand wraps around Richard’s cock. With their crazy fucked up schedules, it’s practically afternoon for them, and they’re both sober. Sober is such a wretched place to be most of the time, especially during sexual situations with people he doesn’t really know all that well, but right here and now, he feels so lucky to be on the wagon. Completely cognizant as Lee kisses down his chest, tracing his tongue along the line of his stomach until his lips brush against the tip of his cock. 

Richard freezes, but before he can even get out the words “You don’t have too-” Lee’s already taken him in his mouth, and there’s no way Richard can pretend this isn’t what he needs. He gingerly puts his hands on Lee’s head, which last for all of two minutes as Lee’s expert tongue and lips pull him somewhere he didn’t think he could ever get back to, and his fingers curl around the shaggy mess of Lee’s hair as he attempts to pace himself, or at least stop himself from face fucking the poor guy into oblivion. 

Lee is unphased by the death grip on his hair and the tiny thrusts he is giving him. He can sense the avalanche pushing against the wall of Richard’s self control, and he desperately wants to witness that wall collapse. 

He pulls Richard’s jeans past his knees, and grabs onto his gorgeous, sturdy thighs, digging his fingers in deep as he takes more of him in his mouth. Richard hits the back of Lee’s throat and it’s all over, he can’t help himself thrusting much too hard, holding Lee’s head to his stomach as he comes, shouting all sorts of obscenities that will no doubt be catalogued and repeated back to Lee by Evie and Aidan. 

Lee pulls off and moves up to Richard, lying sideways on the bed, his putty-like legs still on the floor. He takes a chance and puts his head on Richard’s shoulder. Richard immediately moves away, not realizing how this could be misconstrued. 

“Sorry. I just…” He starts kissing Lee’s chest, quickly moving down, his knees on the floor as he tugs at Lee’s pants until they’re down enough for Richard to wrap his hand around Lee’s cock. He gives him a few gentle tugs before putting the tip in his mouth. Lee lets out a sigh and Richard moves his hand, replacing it with the warmth of his mouth. He pushes deeper. 

“Richard, you don’t have to-” Richard moves off. 

“But I want to.” He dips his head down again. 

“But you’ve got to sing tonight.”

“Lee, I’m fine.” He says. 

“But-” And Richard gives him a look that says “Don’t test me.” before taking him down his throat. And once he’s there, Lee can’t protest. He did think he was an idiot testing fate so close to a performance, but what did he know? Lee was no vocalist. He was just the lucky recipient of the work of someone who definitely knew what to do with their mouth. 

When he was finished, Richard moved back up, lying next to Lee. They were both too tall to be laying sideways on the bed like this, so Richard was the first to readjust. Lee put his head on Richard’s stomach and took in the surrealist curve his life had taken in the past few days. He didn’t know exactly how he’d gone from jerking off to memories of a pretty shitty relationship to laying on the chest of one of the hottest guys he’s ever seen after one of the best blow jobs he’d ever had in the matter of a week. And there was something a little terrifying about how close he already felt to Richard. 

Evie was going to tear him a new one for rushing in again...She was going to remind him of how terribly that always turned out. She was going to threaten to murder him if he tried to drag them to another town and another gig. Aidan will just laugh and go with the flow, because Aidan understands doing stupid shit for cock. But Evie, Lee could tell, was getting tired of his bullshit. 

Richard puts his hand in Lee’s hair and gently caresses the little curls starting to show because he’s letting it get too long. Maybe not too long. Longer than he’s used to, he wagers but, frankly, Richard could care less. He has a feeling he wouldn’t notice anything that other people might consider unattractive on Lee. He could already tell that he was head over heels for him. He hadn’t been hit by an infatuation this hard since...he wasn’t going to think about that now. 

Needless to say, it had been a long time. He hadn’t expected someone to walk into his life and ignite so many lights inside of him that he had thought had been blown out for good. It was simultaneously a nightmare and a dream come true. 

Lee moves to get up, but Richard holds him close. 

“Just another minute or two.” He says, and Lee relaxes into him. A minute passes, and then another, as they lay together, listening to the sound of the other breathing, and then they both drift off to sleep. 

An hour later, there’s a banging on the door. 

“Dinner!” Aidan yells as he walks away. Lee and Richard sit up and pull up their pants, both sneaking low key embarrassed glances towards each other. They stand up, straighten up, and walk out to the kitchen.

“Have a nice nap?” Evie asks. She’s still reading her book as Aidan sets out bowls and spoons. He’s always cooking soup when it’s his turn to make dinner. Which is great now, in the middle of winter, but sucks a little in the high summer heat. 

“Wonderful.” Richard attempts to say, realizing that Lee was completely right, and his vocal chords are in pain and his voice is shot. She pulls her book down so Lee can see her knowing, playful smile. 

“Are you ok?” Lee asks, concern filling his face. His eyebrows, which are already prone to bushiness, are scrunched up in a way that can only be described as adorable. Richard clears his throat with a heavy cough, and puts his hand on Lee’s arm. 

“I’m fine. Do you have any tea?” 

“Sorry, fresh out.” Aidan says. And Lee wonders if it’s all gone down Aidan’s throat mixed with whiskey, or if it’s all gone down the bathtub drain thanks to Evie. “I think we have a lemon.” He pulls it out of the fridge and turns back to the cupboard. “But the honey’s missing.”

“It’s in my bedroom.” Evie says, and everyone looks at her, so she has to put her book down and explain. “It’s good for dry elbows.”

“Sure it is.” Lee says. He gets up and walks down the hall and into Evie’s bedroom. “YOUR BEDROOM IS A PIGSTY.” He yells at her, she seems unphased, but Richard shudders to think about what Lee’s opinion would be of his own filthy hovel. He comes out holding the honey. 

“Your elbows?” He asks, and Evie simply turns a page in her book. 

“You know she uses that shit like windex.” Aidan says, heating up the kettle. Lee and Evie both chuckle, but the reference goes right over Richard’s head. Lee notices. 

“You know.. like My Big Fat Greek Wedding?”

 

“I’m sorry?” Richard says. 

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding? The movie?”

“I’m afraid I don’t recall.”

“You’ve never seen it?” Aidan asks.

“Afraid not. Am I missing something good?”

“So good. It’s this totally typical romantic comedy. But it’s so good.” Aidan doesn’t seem like the Romantic Comedy type, but looks are often deceiving. 

“There’s a joke in the family that Windex cures everything. But in our house, honey apparently cures everything.” Lee explains, while making a mental note to have a movie night with Richard. 

“Or, at least, that’s the excuse the Evie gives as to why she’s always got honey in her room.” Aidan teases. 

“Believe me, if I was using it for anything fun, you’d hear me screaming like my name was Richard Armitage.” She winks at him, and Richard turns beet red. Aidan brings him over the lemon and a mug of hot water, and he prepares his not-tea and drinks as they all settle in for what turns out to be an incredibly delicious soup.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
That night, Lee is ON. Suddenly, his catalogue of approved songs seems endless, his calls are all entertaining, and the night positively flies by. Evie and Aidan walk out with him. 

“You were great tonight.” Evie says.

“Am I not great every night?” Lee asked, mock offended. 

“Barely ever.” Aidan tells him. 

“Thanks.”

“But you’ve been almost tolerable lately.”

“Well, gee, thanks.”

“I’d almost listen to you.”

“You listen to me every night.”

“Yeah, but I mean, without you paying me. Too bad you don’t play good music.” Lee shudders to think of what Aidan considers good music. He’s got a record collection that takes up most of his room and half the living room, bumping right up into Lee’s own collection. 

“Hey, Lee really had the Midas touch tonight.” Evie admits. 

“Thank you. Just for that, I’m buying you a drink.” He turns to Aidan. “And not you.” 

“We’ll see.” Aidan says as they all pile into Lee’s car and head over to McTavish’s.

Richard wasn’t playing McTavish’s tonight, but when they get there, Martin’s hanging around at the bar when they walk up. 

“Hey! Lee!” Martin says like they’re old friends. Lee doesn’t know what he’s done to earn this, but the idea of being in Martin’s good graces certainly appeals to him. 

“Martin! Didn’t expect to see you here.” Adam walks by, holding a drink for someone at the other end of the bar.

“Do you expect to see him anywhere other than here?” he asks, and then he’s gone before he can hear Martin’s response.

“You know you can’t get enough of me.” He laughs and takes another chug of his beer. 

“This is Evie and Aidan. I’m glad we all get a chance to meet before the next audition session.”

“Right. Tuesday, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“Well, it’s lovely to meet both of you.” he says. His phone goes off and he looks down at it. “You’ll have to excuse me.” He smiles. “Amanda’s just figured out I should have been home by now.” When he’s gone, Evie and Aidan turn towards Lee. 

“If Durin’s Gold is already the headliner...why do we need to meet Martin before the next auditions?” Evie asks. 

“Because they’re going to be part of the judging panel from now on.” Lee says. 

“When were you going to tell us?” 

“On Tuesday.”

“Does that mean we can bail?” Aidan asks. 

“No.”

“So, we’re stuck spending our days off hanging out with your boyfriend and his band?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Lee says, even though he wishes he was. Aidan flags over Adam. 

“Three of your most expensive beers.” He says. “And he’s paying.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tuesday came by in a flash. Lee was grateful. He’d been trying his hardest not to contact Richard, lest he appear too clingy or needy and rightly fuck up his chances. Richard had been doing the same thing, counting every minute until he could appropriately respond to the few flirty texts Lee allowed himself to send, promising that he wasn’t going to ask him over to the shit hole apartment that he’d actually cleaned (in the first time in forever) just in case the opportunity arose. 

Aside from deep cleaning, it became desperately apparent to Richard that he didn’t have enough to distract himself from whatever was happening between him and Lee. He went over to Martin’s and played with their kids, he attempted to read a little, but it soon became obvious that whatever past times he had once had, had long since dissipated. 

He had relied on drinking, smoking and a host of other bad habits to relieve his boredom, and Lara had been the one to put effort into investing in friendships, so when they’d split, most of his social circle disappeared with her. It was completely his own fault. 

He was cursing himself as he cleaned, wishing he wasn’t thinking of Lara and Graham and their new baby, and their happy little life, and how they’d somehow shoved off this one little thing they did to “give back.” on him. Well, on Lee. It didn’t have to be on him, he reminded himself. He’d agreed to it, had a chance not to in a way that he suspected Lee did not. 

He didn’t want to be thinking of Lara, but when he’d told his mind to stop thinking of Lee, that’s where it instinctively went. How he’d messed that up. How it had cost him so much, how it had cost Durin so much. How much Martin, his only remaining friend, must hate him for it all. 

If there was a god, Richard was incredibly thankful for him finally allowing it to be Tuesday. 

As he walked into McTavish’s, he was gobsmacked by how good Lee looked. He was 110% sure that Lee could look good in anything. But tonight, his hair was cut and brushed, his shirt actually fit him and was buttoned properly, and he just looked...fresh. He smiled and Richard felt like he’d been hit by a 10,000 watt light. It took all he had not to pull him in for what would most definitely be a earth shaking kiss. 

Here was not the place. Now was not the time. But he was cursing himself, because that image was going to be in his head all night. 

“You made it.” Lee said, still all smiles and happiness. 

“Of course.” Richard told him. They stood there for a second, replaying an awkward crush scene that must have been played out in every grammar school hallway since the beginning of time. 

“I guess we better get to it.” Lee says. He’s such a nerd. A nerd that could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch, but a nerd none the less. 

“Right. Of course.” There are only two seats left at the table that was too small for all six of them to be sitting at. Martin had taken an end seat next to Evie. Aidan sat next to her, and Dean was next to him, leaving Richard to sit next to- practically on top of- Dean, graciously giving Lee the other end seat, and a little more room for his hilariously long legs. 

“Ready?” Lee asks. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Richard says, and they start watching auditions. 

After a while, he regretted agreeing to this. He wanted to kick Martin so badly for talking him into giving up two nights of his week to sit around watching tone deaf American Idol rejects belt their hearts out. Richard decided that the only reason Durin’s Gold was popular at all was because something must have been put in the drinking water that sucked out all the musical talent within a 100 mile radius. 

Aidan and Dean couldn’t stop pestering each other. Richard could already tell that Aidan was a bit on the immature side… Come to think of it, Lee and Evie seemed a bit on the immature side as well. But as a man who’d found a pair of underwear in his refrigerator while cleaning the previous night, he really had no room to speak. Dean wasn’t usually the immature type. He had been a calm, soothing force ever since he’d joined the band. 

“Would you take your hands off me?” he politely, but sternly, asked Aidan.

“Would you stay on your side?”

“Side? What side? You have to share the space with me.”

“Alright you two, it’s time to bloody stop.” Martin said, employing the dad voice Richard had watched him grow into. It seemed to work. For a moment that is...long enough so that they could get through one more horrible audition before they’d start fidgeting again. 

Lee thought it was so funny, he had to jump up and get the next round of drinks before he started snickering at the table. He came back with 5 beers. He sits down and hands Richard a water bottle. 

“How many more do we have?” He whispers.

“Too many.” Richard replies. And then it was time to look like they were interested again.

Graham makes an appearance as soon as the last kid leaves. Durin’s Gold bristles as he walks up. 

“How’s my team?” He says, slapping Martin on the back. 

“Exhausted.” Martin tells him, finishing the last of his beer.

“What do you want, Graham?” Richard growls. The smile melts off Graham’s face. 

“I have a cancellation tomorrow night.”

“Better put your ipod on shuffle.”

“You know Wednesday is live music night.”

“Better dust off that bass then.” Martin adds, finishing the rest of Dean’s beer, too. 

“Not bloody likely.” Graham replies. 

“As far as I can tell, this isn’t really our problem.” Richard tells him. 

“I can pay.” 

“We’ll do it.” Martin says. Richard looks at him, incredulously. They played McTavish’s once a month, and even that felt like more than he could handle most of the time. 

“Great.” Graham says. He pats Martin on the back one more time. “I owe you one.” he says, but doesn’t wait for anyone to respond before walking away. 

“Thanks, Martin.” Dean says. Aidan is still sitting uncomfortably close to him and he direly wants to shove him away. 

“Yeah, Thanks Martin.” Richard says. Martin is finishing Evie’s beer now. 

“Oh, please.” He says, standing up. “Don’t act like you don’t need the cash.” He takes a final swig from Aidan’s beer and looks at his phone. “You can buy this one dinner.” He says while texting and motioning to Lee, who turns pink. “I’ve got to get home.” He says, then turns to Dean. “Try not to get into any fist fights between now and tomorrow.” 

Lee walks Richard out to his car. When they get there, he doesn’t want to leave. He jams his hands into his pockets. 

“Weird night.” He says. Richard is fiddling with his keys, and all Lee can think about is how much he wished he was fiddling with him instead. 

“Suppose so.” 

“Kinda seemed like it was a bust.”

“Sort of a waste of time.” Lee frowned. “Not, no… It was nice to spend time with you, Lee. But it would have been nicer if we’d been able to talk.”

“We could talk now.” Richard smiles. 

“I don’t want to take advantage of all your limited free time.”

“I don’t mind.” Richard puts his hand through Lee’s hair. He’s been dying to feel it all night. He pulls him in for a kiss, soft and sweet. 

“Have a good night, Lee.” he says, getting into his car. 

“It would be better if you spent it with me.” Richard just smiles and starts the car. It’s not that he doesn’t want to. But things were moving too fast. He had to give Lee a little room to decide if he even liked him. And Martin was right, he should at least buy the guy dinner.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lee wakes up in the middle of the night. Well, the middle of the night for him. There’s a bunch of obnoxious sunlight streaming through the windows in the living room, and he groans as he walks past it.

Something smells delicious. He walks into the kitchen and a very naked Aidan is leaning on the counter, eating a brownie. He stops talking when Lee walks in. Lee takes a look over to the table where Dean is looking like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. All three of them take a moment of silence, searching for the right story to tell. 

“Hey.” Aidan finally says. Lee walks to the fridge and pulls out a jug of lemonade. 

“Hey.” He pulls a cup out of the dishwasher. It’s not clean. He doesn’t care. 

“Uh, Aidan… I’ll be right back.” Dean says. He walks to Aidan’s room, quickly, to retrieve his clothes. Lee pours his lemonade. 

“I didn’t know Dean was gay.” He says. Aidan grabs Lee’s glass and takes a glass. With a devilish smile, he replies. 

“Neither did he.” He hands Lee back his glass. “Those have weed in them.” He warns before he walks out, following Dean. 

Lee shrugs and takes a big bite out of a brownie.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lee bolts out of the building the second he’s off air, not even stopping to tell Evie and Aidan where he’s going. He makes it to McTavish’s in time to catch the last few songs of Durin’s Gold’s set. 

It’s crowded, of course. Lee manages to squeeze in at the end of the bar. Adam is leaning on the other side, enjoying the show. He looks over and greets Lee with a smile. 

“Want anything?” He asks. 

“I’m good, thanks.” Lee responds. “How’s the show been?” Adam shrugs. 

“Dean’s been kind of off today. Richard and Martin are covering for him, but they never would have had to do this if Graham was playing.” Lee looked at him, confused. 

“Graham?”

“You didn’t know? Graham used to be the bass player.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. You didn’t think Dean was old enough to run with that lot, did you?”

“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Before he bought the bar, Graham and Richard were pretty much best friends.”

“How did the bar turn their friendship?”

“It wasn’t really the bar’s fault. It was the previous owner. It’s only been McTavish’s for about 3 years...Before that…” Adam nods his head in the direction of a pretty brunette sitting awfully close to Graham at a booth in the back. “It was called Pulver’s.” 

On stage, Richard announces the last song of the evening. It’s an original, and Lee stares, transfixed on Richard’s voice. When it’s over, he smiles over pursed lips through the applause. 

Graham gets up and walks on stage, grabbing the mic stand and waiting for the audience to die down. He pats Richard on the back, and even from the back of the room, Lee can see how uncomfortable Richard is with it. 

“It’s always a treasure when McTavish’s is graced by the presence of Durin’s Gold.” Graham turns to look at Richard, who would give anything to get the hell off the bloody stage. “We’ve been friends for a hell of a long time, eh Rich?” Richard nods.

“Sure.”

“At one point, we were even writing partners.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“Do you remember “The Things I’ve Said to You?”” Richard gulps.

“Of course.” 

“Well, it’s my wife’s favorite song.”

“How sweet.”

“And you haven’t played it for ages.”

“I didn’t know you were keeping track. And I don’t think Dean knows it.” Graham walks up to Dean, who resignedly hands him his bass. 

“Not a problem.” Graham says as he steps back to Richard, handing him back the microphone. “Why don’t we give them a show.” He waits, and Richard doesn’t grab the mic. “For Lara.” 

Richard takes a look at the table where Lara is smiling. He doesn’t know what she’s thinking. Singing a stupid song together isn’t going to magically heal all their wounds and make them best friends again...she has to know that. But he takes the mic anyways. 

Lee sees Dean walk off the stage and towards the bar. Adam walks over to him and hands him his preferred beer. 

“I don’t want that. Give me a shot.” He snaps. Realizing that Adam was just being supportive, he adds. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Adam says, handing him a shot of whiskey and leaving the bottle on the bar. Lee timidly walks up, grabbing the beer Adam had opened. 

“You alright?” He asks. Dean downs the shot and pours another as the band finally starts playing. 

“No. But at least I can drink.” he turns around to watch the show. “I don’t know what he’s gonna do.” he nods towards Richard. The song is, enchanting. Lee could probably listen to Richard sing all day, but this song is, there’s something painful in its beauty, and he just wants to hold him and wash away whatever happened. “A real piece of work, Graham is.” Dean says. He’s already on his next shot, and Lee suspects it doesn’t have to do just with Graham taking his place. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t mean to be disrespectful. He got me the gig...when he left Durin’s Gold. But then again, it’s not like he could have stayed. Not after what he did to Richard.” Lee treads carefully. Dean is steadily getting to drunk, and part of him feels like it’s not fair to find out about Richard’s secrets from a drunken bandmate who was most likely in the throes of some pretty intense gay panic. But, he was also desperately curious. And in the end, that curiosity won out. 

“What did Graham do to Richard?” Dean grabs the beer from Lee’s hand and takes a chug. 

“He stole his wife.” He finishes the beer and puts the bottle down. “Will you do me a favor and tell your friend NOT to call me?” he says, and before Lee has a chance to remind Dean that they’re going to be seeing each other tomorrow night, he walks away.

Leaving Lee alone to process everything that’s going on. Richard and Lara, Richard and Graham, Aidan and Dean, or, apparently, NOT Aidan and Dean, which he suspects Aidan’s not going to be happy about. He’s probably going to mope around the house for weeks if he finds out what Dean just told him. 

Lee suspects he might be moping around the house for a few weeks, too. 

He’s dated “straight” guys before. Richard didn’t strike him as one, but Dean had just said ex-wife...and Lee could look over and see the very pretty Lara, eyes full of adoration and probably just a little bit of lust. She was so pretty. Lee wasn’t bad looking himself, especially when he took the time to clean up. But it’s very hard to compete with pretty women for a guy’s attention. 

He retreated to his corner of the bar and Adam walked over, bringing the whiskey. 

“Looks like you might need a little of this.” He offers. Lee pushed the bottle away. 

“No, thanks. I have to drive home.”

“Maybe a full bottle?” He asks. “For when you get there?” Lee shakes his head. He looks up at Richard, finishing the song and positively melting Lee’s heart. Why does he always get so attached, so quickly? 

A million hopes are racing through his head. Lots of gay guys marry women. Maybe he figured it out late. But the fact was, Lee could see the way Richard looked at Lara while he was singing. And it certainly didn’t look like he was over her. 

As soon as the song was over, Richard walked off stage, leaving Graham to say the goodbyes and thank yous. He walked to the bar, and when he got there, he stopped, contemplating. Then, he saw Lee, lurking at the back, and rushed over to him. 

“You came.” He said, elated.

“Of course...How could I have missed it?” Lee wanted to be curt and guarded, but he didn’t have it in him, Richard melted everything negative away from him when they were this close. Richard was smiling from ear to ear. There was something like relief in his eyes. Then, he wrapped a hand around Lee’s neck and pulled him down for a kiss. 

When it’s over, Lee falls onto his seat. 

“I’m sorry. Was that too much?” Richard says, and it suddenly hits him that perhaps Lee isn’t out, that he wouldn’t want the whole bar, and by proxy the entire town, knowing that he’s dating a loser like him. “Please don’t be mad- I just wasn’t thinking.” Lee stands up, and kisses him back. 

“It’s fine. Really.” He says. “Wanna go for a walk?” Richard breathes in a sigh of relief. 

“That would be wonderful.”

They walk out, side by side, but as soon as they’re off McTavish’s parking lot, they start holding hands. 

“Not that I’m complaining. But why are we taking a walk?”

“It felt really crowded all of a sudden.”

“Ok.”

“And I think I’m still a little too drunk to drive home.”

“How much did you drink?”

“A couple of beers.” Lee was 6’5” and had to weigh 210 pounds. 

“I think you’re probably ok.” 

“Just want to make sure.”

“How responsible of you.”

Lee took a second to lean closer to Richard. They continued walking to nowhere in particular, enjoying each other in silence until Lee knew he had to ruin it. 

“Dean told me Graham’s wife used to be your wife.” Richard inadvertently squeezes Lee’s hand, and when he realizes it he lets go completely. 

“She was.”

“Ok.”

“We haven’t gotten around to disclosing past relationships, Lee. Not that you have to tell me everyone you slept with. But I wouldn’t have left it out when we did.”

“I’m not, I mean...You’re totally right. We haven’t had that conversation. I guess, I just assumed...We sort of fit together so well…”

“You thought I was gay.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t intentionally misleading you.”

“But, you’re not straight, right?” Richard gives him a big smile. 

“Frankly, I don’t know how anyone could be straight if they had your attention.”

“I’m a little serious...We don’t have to have that talk right now...but, well..I’ve been burned before, I’d rather that not happen again.”

“I just kissed you in a room full of people!”

“Ok...but I just want to hear it from you. That whatever’s going on, that we’re on the same page.”

“What page are you on?” Lee wasn’t expecting this tonight. He wasn’t thinking he’d be the least bit buzzed and standing out in the middle of town when he did this. But he wasn’t good at planning, and he wasn’t good at waiting (obviously) and he couldn’t have lived with himself until the time was right, with all his insecurities telling him that Richard’s past was going to dictate their future...So here he was, about to ask for more from someone he begrudgingly admitted he barely knew. 

“I like you...I really like you, Richard. And there’s no one else in this town that I could date, but even if there was, I wouldn’t want to.”

Richard took a second. There was no doubt in his mind that he felt the exact same way, but there was something about the little dig, “no one else that I could date.” that felt like an implication...an accusation even...and he’d been here before. 

With Lara, with every person he’d ever seriously dated. He wasn’t really the type to look for more when he was in a relationship. But that word, that thing he was, screamed cheater to most people. And there was a part of him that wondered if Lee was just going to be another in a long (well, not too long) line of people who couldn’t trust him...and if it was worth it to go down the same road, expecting different outcomes. 

“I wouldn’t want to either.” He tells Lee, his heart winning out. Lee smiles at him, and it feels like sunlight. He takes Richard’s hand, and then kisses him. 

“Good.” He says, and steers them back towards the parking lot. 

“Where are we going?” Richard asks as they walk towards their cars. Lee kisses him, full force. 

“Back to your place.” He says with a smile.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Richard’s place is small. Like… how do you even find an apartment that small?

“I don’t think I would have pictured you in a basement.” Lee says between kisses. 

Richard tosses his keys in the vicinity of the table, and goes back to kissing Lee. 

“Well, there were no openings in the gutter.” He jokes, and Lee feels a pang for him. 

“How could someone so perfect say something like that?” He asks. 

 

“Lee, you’ve known me long enough to tell that I am nowhere near perfect.”

“But let me live in my fantasy, just a little while longer.” Richard kisses him again. 

“Whatever you’d like.” He tells him. Lee starts tugging at Richard’s shirt. 

“Whatever I’d like?” He asks. 

“Of course.” Lee pulls off Richard’s shirt and starts kissing his chest, his shoulders, his arms. He wants to memorize every inch of him, he kisses up his shoulder and lands on his neck. Richard puts a hand in Lee’s hair, closing his eyes just for a second and taking in how incredibly lucky he is at this moment. Lee’s hand slides under his jeans, and he pulls him off his neck to kiss him properly. Lee unzips Richard’s pants and wraps his hand around his cock, starting to kiss his chest again, and moving down, until he’s on his knees. 

“You know, Lee...We have time, you don’t have to race right to anything.” Richard tells him. 

“You said I could have whatever I liked.” He says, looking up at him wantonly, an image that Richard was making certain would be burnt into his mind for the rest of time. 

“I did say that. I was just expecting that you’d perhaps want me to do something to you.”

“Who says I don’t?”

“Your knees on my carpet.” Lee wraps his hand around Richard’s cock, and simply presses his lips against it. It wasn’t an answer, but Richard suddenly didn’t care to press the matter any further while Lee pulled him into ecstasy. He leaned on the door, running his hands through Lee’s hair while he worked his hand and mouth over his cock. “Lee, what do you want?” he asks through haggard breaths. Lee pulls off. 

“Why can’t I just want you to feel good? I know you’ve had a hell of a night.”

“It doesn’t mean you haven’t.” Lee’s still got Richard’s cock in his hand, softly caressing and driving him crazy. He’s practically unaware of what he’s doing, thinking about the way Richard had been looking at Lara through that last song…

“It’s been fine...besides, is this really the best time to talk about how our days went?”

“If it’s bothering you, it is.” 

“Richard, how the hell do you expect me to be bothered by anything when I’ve got your dick in my hand?” Richard doesn’t say anything, just maneuvers out of Lee’s grasp and bends down to pick Lee up and walk him the small distance to the foot of the bed. He sits down waiting until Lee follows suit. Once he’s there, Lee moves to grab Richard again, who stops him, interlacing their fingers and taking his free hand running through Lee’s hair. He pulls him in for a kiss. They scramble up the bed and end up facing each other, kissing. 

Richard wraps his arms around Lee and they stay like that, simply kissing, until it hits Lee how fucking tired he is. He yawns. 

“I’m sorry.” God, how can you yawn at a time like this? Richard kisses him again. 

“It’s fine.” He tells him. And they’re both asleep within minutes. 

Lee wakes up early...again. He remembers it’s Thursday, and he doesn’t have anywhere to be all day. He tries to get back to sleep. It’s useless. He sits up and takes a look at the closet Richard has the audacity to call an apartment, in the daylight. He attempts to be quiet, but it’s only a matter of minutes before Richard is awake. 

“You alright?” Lee nods. 

“Sorry I woke you up.” Richard moves onto his side, looking at Lee. 

“‘It’s fine.” He rubs Lee’s back. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing.” Richard’s hand starts massaging dangerously close to his ass. 

“Want me to put something on it?” he says, smiling. Lee turns around, lays back down, and wraps his arm around Richard. 

“That sounds nice.” He says. Richard kisses him, and then it’s a race to see who’s going to get undressed quicker. Lee throws his clothes to the floor, and careens back into Richard’s arms, kissing him frantically, like they didn’t have all the time in the world. 

Richard doesn’t know what the fervor is about, but it’s contagious, and he pulls Lee in for a deep, long kiss as he feels Lee wrapping his hand around his cock. He lets out a moan on Lee’s lips and can feel him smiling. 

“What do you want?” He asks, desperate to please. Lee looks him in the eyes and tells him honestly. 

“You.” They haven’t talked about this what this means yet... Richard had attempted to pay attention to any subtle signs, but as much as he’d thought about it, fantasized about it, over analyzed it, he had no clue what Lee’s preferences were. He had his, but frankly, he didn’t care if he got them or not right now. 

“How?” He asked, hoping it wasn’t too forward, while simultaneously noting that it was hard to imagine anything being too forward while he already had his hand on Lee’s dick. 

“Do you have a preference?” Lee asks.

“Do you?”

“I asked you first.”

“Yes.” He admits. 

“Ok, what?”

“Top.” Lee smiles. 

“I was hoping that you’d say that.” Lee admits, and then takes his hand off Richard’s cock so he can pull him in for a kiss before he starts to turn over. Richard stops him. 

“I’d prefer you on your back.” He says.

“Whatever you want.” Lee says, and lays back down as Richard gets up, grabbing a condom and bottle of lube from the drawer in his nightstand (And congratulating himself for his bravado of actually going out and purchasing them at all.) He slides on a condom and lubes up two of his fingers, moving them gently between Lee’s cheeks. 

He gets closer, watching Lee’s every move, wanting direly to make sure this is good for him. After a few minutes of gentle play, Lee looks up at him. 

“Richard, I promise, I’m ready.” And Richard nods, pulls his fingers out, and readjusts before lining up, relishing the feel of Lee’s legs on his thighs, his cock fully erect, lying on his stomach, the way Lee’s green eyes sparkled in the sunlight that was usually overbearing at this time of day. “Are you just gonna stand there, or are we gonna do this?” He asks. Richard smiles, slowly sliding in, savoring every second of it.

“You’re a might bossy, aren’t you?”

“I don’t mind being a stereotype, sometimes.” Richard leans down, feeling Lee’s cock throbbing between their stomachs, and kisses him. Lee returns the kiss, then takes his hands on Richard’s shoulders. 

“Get back up.” He says. Richard smiles but goes in for another kiss first. Lee puts a little pressure on his shoulders. “You said I could have what I want.” He says and Richard seems to remember Lee promising him the same thing, but he’s incredibly happy to be where he is, and doesn’t push the subject. Instead, he pushes deeper into Lee as Lee wraps his legs around Richard’s waist. 

It feels so good Richard has to concentrate on his unfinished chores for a second to keep from coming, but he pulls himself together, digs his knees into the bed a little deeper, and wraps his hand around Lee’s cock. It’s obvious when he’s hit the right spot inside him, because Lee’s back arches and he lets out a moan that Richard swears he’ll remember for the rest of his life. 

Richard swivels his hips, moving against Lee one more time, and Lee comes in his hand. He looks up at Richard, and all it takes is a second before Richard is coming, too. He thrusts wildly, moaning with abandon, and breathes heavily as he slides out, tossing the condom in the vicinity of the trashcan and falling onto the bed next to Lee. 

He takes a minute to breathe before turning on his side and pulling Lee in for a kiss. 

“Still want to go back to sleep?” Richard asks. Lee shrugs then kisses him again.

“Whatever you want.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It’s been a week and a half, which means it’s been three nights where Richard, and apparently Dean, have spent the night at Lee’s place. 

It’s Tuesday “morning” again, and Lee’s decided to make pancakes. Which perhaps wasn’t the best idea, but after he takes the batteries out of the smoke detector and throws away the first batch, things start looking up. 

Evie walks in, half asleep but startled from the noise, to see Richard, Aidan and Dean sitting at the table, drinking orange juice. She walks to across the room and pulls out plates. 

“I swear, we should be charging you guys rent.” She says as she passes out dishware. 

“Maybe if you went out and got lucky once in awhile, you wouldn’t feel the need to nit pick our lives.” Aidan says. He always sounds a little brash, but Evie’s used to it. She ruffles his hair, because she knows he hates it. 

“I think I’ll pass.” She says, walking back over to grab knives and forks. 

“Ok, who wants the first pancake?” Lee asks, turning around, showing them all the fruits of his labor. Which is just a little browner than anyone would like a pancake to be. Richard finishes his juice and puts up his plate. 

“Thank you.” He says, as Lee slides the pancake onto his plate, Richard jumps up and gives him a kiss so sweet Dean wants to vomit. Or punch them in the face. He immediately feels guilty. It’s not his fault Richard’s so much more comfortable with this than he is. It’s not Lee’s fault that he is considerably less annoying that Aidan. 

Fuck, Aidan annoyed Dean. Half the time they ended up in bed together it was because Dean had kissed him to get him to shut up. It was not fair, why the hell did Aidan have to be so hot? And amazing in bed, and...admittedly, when he wasn’t being a complete fucking idiot (which was rare) He was pretty much an awesome guy. 

But that was the problem, wasn’t it? Dean wasn’t really looking for an awesome guy, especially one who was such a floozy...He was cracking jokes with Evie and Lee right now, and Dean couldn’t help sighing at him. 

And yet, after breakfast, Aidan was going to make up some completely bullshit excuse to get him to go back to his room, and no one is going to buy it, and Dean is going to giddily follow him. 

Lee plopped a couple of much better looking pancakes on his plate. “Eat.” he says. “You’ll feel better.” He didn’t know if he agreed, but he poured syrup on his plate anyways.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Auditions are cancelled.” Graham says as Lee, Evie and Aidan walk into the bar. 

“What?” Lee asks, Martin, Richard and Dean are coming in from the parking lot, too. 

“We don’t need them.”

“What don’t we need?” Martin asks. 

“He’s cancelled auditions.” Evie tells him. 

“And you couldn’t have called us?” Richard asks. 

“You lot aren’t getting anywhere here, so I made a few calls.” Graham says. 

“Still doesn’t explain why you couldn’t have told us.” Richard says. “We could have booked another gig, Graham.”

“Because Tuesdays are real busy days for Durin’s Gold.” Graham says. “Besides, I wanted you to see him.” 

“Who’s him?” Dean asks. It’s the first thing he’s said all night, and it almost floors Martin and Richard that he’s spoken at all. 

“Yeah, who’s him?” Richard asks. 

“Orlando. Your opener.” The second Lee hears the name, he bristles. Richard notices, but he’s not standing next to him, can’t get to him without making it obvious, so he just keeps his eyes on Lee. 

“Listen, mate, we were very clear that we weren’t going to be doing this unless we had input on the line up.”

“And you had your chance. No one turned up. And the ink is dry on Orlando’s contract.”

“What happened to a local concert?” Aidan asks. “Orlando’s not local.” Richard wondered why Aidan was leaning so closely.

“But he’s good.” Graham says. “I saved you lot a booth. Sit and see the show. You’ll be happy with him.” 

“Did he come alone?” Lee asks. 

“What do you mean?”

“Did. he. come. alone?”

“Yeah. I suppose so. Is that a problem?”

“No. That’s...great.” Lee walks towards the bar. Martin follows him. Adam has usual orders already ready for them. 

“Lee, you’re the chair for this concert. You can make this right.”

“Martin, how? If Graham already got the contracts, I’m not wasting anyone’s money fighting in court.”

“Maybe we can talk to this chap...Maybe he would understand.” Lee takes a sip of beer. 

“Oh, yeah. He probably would. It’s not him I’m worried about.”

“Are we missing something here?” Lee takes a pause before he answers. 

“Orlando and I are dick sisters.”

“What the bloody fuck?”

“We’re...He’s dating my ex-boyfriend. And he’s not the understanding sort.” Lee walks to their booth and slides in next to Richard. He puts his hand on Richard’s thigh, and Richard holds it. 

“Are you gonna be ok, sweetie?” Evie asks. Lee’s already on his second beer. He nods. “Because we can leave. You don’t have to sit through this.”

“What am I missing?” Richard asks. 

“Orlando slept with Lee’s ex-boyfriend...” Aidan tells the table. 

“Before he let me know that we were Consciously Uncoupling.” Evie groans. 

“I’d forgotten that part. How the fuck does anyone get away with using a phrase like that?”

“No one would blame you if you wanted to leave.” Dean says. Lee finishes his beer, again. 

“Guys, I appreciate the concern. But I’m an adult. And Orlando’s really not that bad. I’m fine.” He grabs a waitress and orders another round, then turns towards the stage, conversation over. 

Everyone had to begrudgingly admit, Orlando was talented. Really talented. And if he was willing to open for them, it would make a good pairing. 

Lee went out to the bar to get another beer, and he stayed, back to the stage, hoping no one at his table would miss him. When he was finished, he ordered another. 

“You sure you need it?” Adam asked.

“I can handle myself, thanks.” Adam shrugs and gives him his 5th beer of the night. On a good night, Lee could handle this. Tonight, he wanted to be drunk. Richard walks up to him, puts an arm on his back, and Lee shudders. 

“You alright?” He asks. Lee turns and sees that it’s Richard. 

“Um. Yeah.” he starts peeling the label off his bottle. “Luke is Orlando’s manager. In some ways...I don’t really know if we’d gotten together without Orlando. We used to work really well together.” 

“You don’t have to tell me, Lee.”

“I want to, though.” Richard sits down next to him. 

“Right here?” Lee nods. “Ok. I’m listening.”

“I was always worried that they were sleeping together.” He looks down, embarrassed. “I’m kind of a jealous girlfriend.” he says. 

“Lucky me.” Richard says. 

“How do you figure that?”

“Because no one else in the world would want to sleep with me, so you don’t have to worry about your jealous side coming out.” Lee smiles. 

“Trust me, that’s not true.”

“Well, we’ll just agree to disagree.”

“I just..He’s really not a bad guy...Neither of them are. It just sort of happened, you know?”

“I...I promise you, I know.”

“And it was months ago. I’m over it, really.” Richard thinks about seeing Lara a few weeks ago. He thinks about her having Graham’s baby. He takes Lee’s hand, kisses him softly on the lips. 

“We can talk about it later.” He says. 

“Ok.” Lee downs the rest of his beer, then smiles “Honestly, though, I can deal with Orlando...as long as I don’t see Luke.”

Richard stiffens. He has no idea what Luke looks like, but from the way Orlando’s eyes light up on stage, he would wager that the good looking guy in the expensive suit that had just walked in might just be Lee’s worst nightmare. 

He wraps his arm around Lee. 

“Why don’t we take a walk?” He suggests. 

“Don’t you want to see the rest of the show?” Lee says as they stand up together. 

“What’s the point? Graham said the ink is already dry on the contract.” He’s pulling him towards the back, there’s an exit through the kitchen. 

“Shouldn’t we get everyone else?” Lee says. He’s drunker than he expected. “I’ll go.” He says, and turns around. As soon as he does, he sees Luke and his posture goes stiff. Luke can see him, too. But he doesn’t make a move. 

The set ends, and Orlando walks to the bar, walking right into Richard and Lee. Richard is holding Lee’s hand, and Lee squeezes it, hard. Orlando takes a deep breath.

“Hello, Lee.” Lee swallows. 

“Orlando.”

“How have you been? Can I get you something?”

“I’m fine, thanks.” Orlando puts his hand on Lee’s shoulder and smiles. 

“That’s great. I’m really happy for you.” Lee shirks away from Orlando’s touch. 

“Thanks.” He says. “If you’ll excuse us.” 

“Of course… You don’t want to say hi to Luke then?”

“I’d prefer not, thanks.” Orlando sits down at the bar. 

“You know we’ll be back around, right?”

“Oh?”

“We’re headlining the Christmas Concert next month.” 

“Oh really. I heard you were the opener for the Holiday Concert.”

“How would you know that?”

“Oh, you know, small town, news travels fast...I’m the chair of the organizing committee.”

“Oh. Well… That’s wonderful.”

“You didn’t know?”

“I don’t really pay attention to the specifics that closely, Lee.”

“No...that’s something your manager would take care of, wouldn’t he?” And with that, he and Richard walk towards their table.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Do you want to talk about last night?” 

Lee’s in Richard’s bed, with a splitting headache, and only one sock on. He’s immensely grateful for the cup of coffee Richard is currently offering, and grabs it with gusto. 

“I got drunk. I’m sorry.” Richard sits down, putting his hand on Lee’s ankle. 

“You most definitely do not need to apologize to me for that.”

“Then what do you want to talk about?” Richard crawls, one handed while holding his coffee, up to the top of the bed, so he can sit beside Lee. 

“Orlando?”

“I told you, he’s a nice guy.”

“Nice guys don’t sleep with other people’s boyfriends.”

“Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Except, you’re the one who’s not dating Luke any more. You moved 100 miles away from him.”

“I’m over Luke, Richard.” He insists before taking a drink of coffee. That has neither cream nor sugar, and tastes disgusting in Lee’s opinion. All coffee tasted disgusting to Richard, but he’d grown accustomed to its hangover alleviating magic. Why was there no tea that did that as well?

“Uh huh.” Richard paused for a minute, took a sip of his own disgusting coffee, and finally decided on continuing. “Lara and I were married for 2 years, together for 4…”

“And?”

“And, I’ve had relationships since then, some were even pretty good.”

“With girls, or guys?”

“It shouldn’t matter, Lee.”

“Just curious.”

“Both. The point I wanted to get to, though, was I thought I was over her. I mean, at this point, we’ve been apart nearly as long as we were together.”

“But?”

“But when she told me last month that she and Graham were pregnant...God, it brought back a lot of feelings.”

“I really don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me.”

“I’m trying to say...life is really complicated. Relationships double-so. And whatever happened between you and Luke and to some degree Orlando, It’s so fresh, and it’s so painful, and...it’s completely understandable that you might still have feelings for Luke.”

“He’s not a part of my life, Richard.” Richard takes another sip of coffee, and Lee follows suit. 

“Well, the fact of the matter is, he is very much a part of your life, for at least the next few months.”

“That’s different. That’s work.”

“It starts out that way...But you and I both saw that Orlando had no idea you were part of this concert. And you know that we’re not getting paid enough for this to be worth his while. Which means that Luke wants something from you.”

“Now you sound like a jealous girlfriend.”

“Lee, I am so lucky to have you in my life in whatever capacity you want. I don’t have it in me to be jealous, because I’m just so happy to have some of your life at all.” He wraps his arm around Lee, pulling him in close to his chest for a hug before he can continue. “I just want you to be aware of the fact that I know what’s going on here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means...I don’t think I can be part of a melodrama. If that’s what they want. If that’s what you want. I don’t think I can play the same part as Orlando.” Lee puts down his cup and kisses Richard. 

“I would never want you to play a part other than you.” He says.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Over the next few weeks, Lee had been amazed and pleasantly surprised about how well the concert came together. Graham had been right, he had barely had to do anything, the women who always organized this had done a great job. 

Between Graham forcing the line up and them doing the actual work, Lee had no idea what he was actually there for. He’d asked Lara, who despite promising Graham to take it easy was just as active as ever in the planning and execution stages of this thing, why they didn’t just take all the credit. 

She told him they didn’t like to get in the spotlight. Which is what Lee was required to do, at the VIP reception before and after the concert, and at the speech before it began. He supposed it made sense. 

He was surprised at how much he liked Lara. He’d never liked a current’s ex before. But she was sweet, and hard working (too hard working, pregnant women shouldn’t be carrying things, he was sure of it, but she’d snapped at him when he’d tried to help her on numerous occasions.) And it was obvious that anything going on between Richard and her had long since ended. If there were still feelings, it was most definitely one sided. 

Lee didn’t like the thought of that, but Lara had pulled him aside when she could tell he was worrying about it, and given him a blunt talk.

“I know that you don’t really like me, Lee.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You’re dating my ex-husband.”

“So?”

“So, I can completely understand why that might make it hard to work with me.”

“Care to explain?”

“I’m not a fool. I know why he doesn’t come into the bar when I’m around, I see him when he stops by and we’re talking. But you have to believe me, that died a long time ago.”

“Because you got with Graham?”

“I’m not claiming to be an angel, not at all. But neither was Richard, and if you want to make things work with him, you need to understand that. He’s sober now, and remorseful because I left. And I’m happy that the two of you are seemingly doing so well.”

“It’s not just seemingly.” Lee asserts. Lara smiles, and it feels so genuine even Lee, who questions everything, can’t deny she looks happy for them. 

“That’s wonderful. Despite everything that’s happened between us, I do want Richard to be happy.”

“What’s happened between you?”

“It’s in the past now. Richard can tell you if he wants. But, what really matters to me at this moment, is that you can separate your feelings from my and Richard’s past from our working relationship. You don’t have to like me, you just can’t be unnecessarily mean.”

“But, that’s just it, Lara, I do like you. I like Richard a lot, but as far as I can tell, that doesn’t mean that we can’t be friendly. I didn’t even know Richard when you two were together. And it’s his past, it’s not fair of me to judge.” Lara smiles again. 

“You’re one in a million, Lee.”

“So there are 700 of me?” She laughs, rolls her eyes, then hugs him.

“Thank you.” She says, and then she gets up and walks off to tell someone else what to do.

And things had been going well ever since. Richard came by one day to surprise Lee and take him out to lunch. 

They went to a nearby sandwich shop and took the corner table in the back. Neither one of them had a problem being seen out together, but they didn’t like to call attention to it either. It wasn’t Greenwich Village, after all. 

“How’s it been?” Richard asks between bites of his pastrami on rye. Lee speedily finishes chewing. 

“It’s good. Things are coming together.”

“Lara’s been around more than she should be.” 

“What makes you say that?”

“She’s pregnant. She said she was retiring from the committee.”

“She’s really useful. I mean, she knows how to do everything.”

“So, she hasn’t been giving you any trouble?”

“No. Why would she be?” Richard shrugs, takes a sip of his drink. 

“I didn’t know if it might be..tense...for the two of you.”

“No, actually… she took me aside a couple of weeks ago and flat out asked me if it was ok.”

“She did?”

“Yeah. She promised me that what you two had had was over, and that I didn’t need to worry about that.”

“Well, she’s right.”

“I know. I mean, I completely believe her.”

“Did she say anything else?” Lee shrugs.

“Nothing important.” Richard doesn’t believe him. 

“Really?”

“I mean, she mentioned that maybe neither of you were innocent. Things sounded a little messy.”

“I suppose she’s right there, too.”

“I asked her what she meant.”

“Oh really? What did she tell you?”

“She said I should ask you.”

“Why haven’t you?” Lee shrugs. 

“Does it matter? I wouldn’t expect you to be an angel. I’m certainly not.”

“I like that about you. I don’t know if you’d like it about me.”

“Well, I guess I won’t know until you tell me.”

“Alright. That’s fair. Here?”

“No time like the present, right?” 

“Of course.” Richard takes a minute to collect his thoughts. “I’m an alcoholic, Lee.”

He’d suspected, but this was the first time Richard had ever flat out said it to him. Lee let him continue. 

“And, it took me a long time to admit that. Lara leaving might have been the reason I finally realized it.”

“You don’t have to tell me anymore, Rich.”

“I’d rather you know now, instead of finding out later. I was an asshole. I’m still an asshole some days, though I do hope that I’m getting better. I made Lara’s life a living hell. I was moody and depressive and on top of that I was absolutely worthless.”

“Depression’s hard.”

“Yes, but it’s hard on the people who love you, too. Honestly, looking back, I can’t blame her for leaving. It might have been the best thing she ever did for me.”

“But...with your best friend?”

“Who else was it going to be? They had something in common. A right git to take care of.”

“You’re not a git, Rich. You’re amazing.” Richard laughs. 

“I promise you, I’m not. But I’m getting better. And I’m happy that you don’t see me the way Lara does.”

“I don’t think she sees you that way. You should have seen how she looked when I told her we were doing well. She’s really happy...and she’s happy that you’re happy.” Richard smiles and it lights up the world...as far as Lee is concerned. 

“You told her we were doing well?”

“Of course I did. I mean...we are, aren’t we?” Richard puts his hand over Lee’s. 

“Yeah. We are.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Get up.” 

“Ehhhhh.” Lee pulls a pillow over his head. 

“It’s time. Get up.” 

“Give us another 10 minutes, mum.” Richard says, putting a pillow over his head. 

“When did you even get here?” Evie asks. 

“Dean called me to give him a ride home. And then he decided to stay.” Evie rolls her eyes. 

“I’m going to go pry Aidan out of bed.” She points to them. “When I get back, you better have clothes on.”

“Me too?” Richard teases as he sits up, the blanket falling down to reveal his rather nice chest. 

“I don’t care what you do. But make that one.” she points to Lee, who’s still attempting to hide under a pillow. “Get his ass up.” She walks away and Richard lays back down, wrapping his arm around Lee’s waist. 

“She’s a piece of work.” he says. Lee moves the pillow and smiles at him. 

“She means well. She’s just a little intense.”

“Seems like maybe she needs a good lay.” Richard suggests. 

“I don’t think Evie’s into that.”

“She’d prefer a bad one?”

“It’s just not her style.” Richard shrugs. 

“She must get so much more done in a day.” 

“Regretting your decision not to be celibate?” Lee asks. Richard pulls him closer, and gives him a kiss. 

“Not in the slightest.” he says, and Evie walks back by and stops in front of the deliberately left wide open door. 

“What did I tell you?!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“So, what’s the plan tonight?” Lee asks as they pack up and leave the station. 

“Didn’t know there needed to be a plan.” Aidan says. “Figured you’d be over at Richard’s.” He bats his eyelashes at Lee, teasing him for being so enamoured. 

“Laugh it up. Laugh it up all the way to Dean’s.”

“Will you two stop fake-bragging and decide where we’re going?” Evie already had her keys out. 

“Let’s go to McTavish’s.” Lee suggests.

“Let’s not.” Evie says. 

“Then, you suggest something.”

“How about a quiet night in, curled up with a good book?”

“You know, Evie, you’re just a couple of grey hairs away from being a cat lady.” Aidan says. 

“You can’t be a cat lady without cats.” Lee says.

“I don’t need cats, I’ve got you two.” She says, and gets in the car. They haven’t decided on anything, so Evie makes the executive decision to go home where they order a pizza. It’s better this way. 

Aidan gets up as soon as he’s had a slice. 

“Where are you going?” Lee asks. 

“Where do you think?” He says, “Later, losers.” and he’s gone. Evie laughs, grabs another piece of pizza. 

“He’s a fucking horn dog.” Lee says. 

“Yeah, because you’re not gonna go into your room and cajole anyone to come over tonight.”

“Cajole? You think I cajole Richard? I do nothing of the sort. I merely remind him how much more comfortable my bed is. Suggest that, for his back’s sake, he spend time over here.”

“And I’m sure his back appreciates it.” She takes a bite of pizza and a sip of her wine.”There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” 

That didn’t sound terrible at all.

“What?” 

“Luke called me today.”

“Lucky you.”

“You know they’ll be in town next week, right? I mean...you do understand that you’re going to have to interact with them…”

“I prefer to cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“Well, you’re getting there. Because he’s offered an interview with Orlando, no charge.”

“K-rad will be thrilled.”

“Stipulation, it’s got to be you interviewing him.”

“They don’t want him on my show. It’s in the middle of the fucking night. No one listens.”

“You can have the morning. I already cleared it.”

“Because of Orlando? He’s not that big of a deal.” Certainly not big enough of a deal to bump their morning fart joke hosts. 

“Well, Luke is. And he wants you to interview Orlando in prime time.”

“And you’ve already signed off on this.” Lee was going into full sulk mood, she could already see it. 

“It’s an amazing opportunity. You know if Ian sees how good you are.. this could lead to a job that maybe isn’t on the bottom of the totem pole?”

“I don’t care about where I am on the totem pole.”

“Well, I’m your producer, and I do. You can do this, Lee. You and Orlando make each other look good. You’ve done this interview ten times.”

“That was before he was fucking my boyfriend!” Lee yells. And he realizes he shouldn’t have snapped, and instantly feels guilty about it. Evie cooly takes another drink of wine. She calmly puts the glass back down on the table and looks up at him. 

“Luke’s not your boyfriend anymore, Lee.”

“I know that.” He snaps..again. 

“I thought you and Richard were doing really well.” 

“We’re great. Richard is great.”

“Then, you should be excited for this amazing opportunity that your ex has made happen.”

“I’d prefer not to owe him anything, thanks.”

“Don’t look at it that way, Lee. If he’s trying to play games, let him. Take the good stuff and ignore the bad.”

“That’s easier for you to say than for me to do.” Evie gets up, patting Lee on the back as she walks past him. 

“I know, dear. But you’ll be happy if you can figure it out.”

Later that night, Lee is over at Richard’s. He couldn’t stay in the same house as Evie after what she’d done behind his back, and Richard was happy for the company. Lee wasted no time showing him how grateful he was for Richard, pressing him up against the wall with his body, his lips smashing against Richard’s, then making their way down his chin, brushing against his stubble until they found the perfect spot on his neck to bite. 

Richard laughed. 

“What’s all this for?” He asks. 

“For being wonderful.” Lee says between little nibbles that were slowly working their way back up his neck and towards his ear. 

“I think you’ve made a gross error in character judgement.” He says.

“I doubt it. But it feels good anyways, don’t you think?” He pulls Richard’s earlobe into his mouth, and clamps on, harder than feels good. Richard yelps and pulls away, he’s still laughing though. 

“Lee, I appreciate the sentiment, but give me a minute to get up to speed.” Lee moves off him. 

“Sorry.” He says as he hangs his head down. 

“It’s fine.” Richard pulls his head up and gives him a kiss, just a peck on the lips. They walk to the bed, and sit down. “What’s wrong?”

“Why does something have to be wrong?”

“You rushed in and tried to devour me.”

“You’re tasty.” 

“Again, ego most definitely inflated, sentiment noted, and much appreciated. But tell me why you’ve suddenly decided I needed to be marked up like we’re teenagers at a ballgame?”

“I just had a fight with Evie, and I get a little rough when I need to destress.”

“Good to know. What was the fight about?”

“She got me a one day gig on the morning show.”

“Lee, that’s wonderful!”

“It’s going to fuck up my sleep schedule. I’m going to be messed up the rest of the week.”

“I’m sure I can get you back to sleep.” Richard tells him, his hand creeping up Lee’s leg. 

“She agreed to it without even telling me.”

“I’m sorry. Are you two going to be alright?”

“I don’t know...the only reason she’s agreed to it is because I’m going to be interviewing Orlando. For the concert.”

“Oh.” There really wasn’t much more he could say. 

“It’s just...I have no doubt Luke’s going to be there, and I don’t really want to see him.”

“I thought you said you were over him.”

“I am. But it doesn’t mean I particularly want to be in the same room as him.”

“Well, the interview’s with Orlando, right?”

“Yes.”

“So, Luke will be on the other side of the glass?”

“Hopefully.”

“..Do you...Do you want me to come with you?”

“What?...Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“It’s at like, 5:30 in the morning.” Richard shrugs. 

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t?”

“If you think it would be easier, of course not.” And then, Lee pounces on Richard, who catches himself before they both fall off the bed. “Thank you.” He says, a laugh still in his voice. Lee kisses him. 

“Thank you.” Lee looks down at Richard, lying on the edge of the bed under him. He has a few piece of hair out of place over his eye, and Lee brushes them aside. “I love you, Richard.” he says, and bites his tongue. It’s too soon. They’re not ready for this, and he’s fucked it up. Richard sits up, but Lee’s still on him. He wraps his arms around Lee. 

“I love you, too, Lee.” He says. And as he watches those green eyes fill with joy, there’s no way to hold back, he kisses him, passionately. Lee returns the kiss and they stay there for a moment, enjoying the simple feeling of a kiss with love behind it. It’s not long before they realize how tangled up they are in each other, and have to carefully unwind. It’s almost painful to be out of Richard’s arms, so as soon as they’re untangled, Lee is right back, leaning his head on Richard’s chest. Richard lets him stay there, doesn’t make a move as Lee’s hand unbuckles his belt, unbuttons his jeans and dips below his underwear. 

Lee tilts his head up, pressing his lips to Richard’s as his hand wraps around his cock. He gives him a good few strokes before turning around, on top of Richard, and starting to kiss down his still clothed chest. Richard sits up to pull off his shirt, and when he leans back down, Lee is back on him, biting his lip after a ferocious kiss, then nibbling his way down to one of his nipples. He licks it until it’s fully hard, then puts it between his teeth, slowly pushing the pressure harder until he’s legitimately biting Richard. Richard clamps his hand on Lee’s head, pulling his hair, tight. 

“You’re still in a rough mood?” He asks. Lee looks up and nods yes. Richard drags him back up and kisses him, ending it with a bite on Lee’s tongue. “I can work with this.” He says, and flips over on top of Lee with one swift move. A move that Lee was most definitely going to get him to teach him, though not at this exact moment, because he’s very interested in the way Richard is looking at him like a hungry wolf. 

He presses his still clothed erection against Lee’s, and it’s too much, and not enough at the same time, Lee is dying for more, so much more and Richard refuses to give it to him. This isn’t rough, this is cruel, but he finally relents, first unbuttoning Lee’s pants, giving him a few sultry tugs before moving on to pull down his own pants. He grabs Lee’s wrists, pressing them into the bed as he ruts against him, a chill running up Lee’s back until it hits his neck and he lets out a sigh of relief. 

Richard latches on to Lee’s neck in what was certain to leave an obvious love mark tomorrow. Lee doesn’t care. Perhaps welcomes it a bit too much, letting out a moan the neighbors across the street could know doubt hear. It’s fuel for the fire resting in Richard’s heart. He moves up, takes Lee’s earlobe in his mouth, and after a minute of sucking, moves on, whispering, “turn around.” in a low growl that does things to Lee he can’t put into words. Richard releases him, moving to the nightstand for lube and a condom, and he does as told, laying on his stomach, his cock straining against his stomach and driving him just a little more crazy. When Richard is done preparing, he pulls Lee to his knees with a jerk, then lubes up his forefinger and slides inside Lee just a little more forcefully than he was expecting.Lee lets out a yelp and Richard stops, 

“Too fast?” 

“No. More, please.” Richard complies, and has Lee writhing on his fingers in no time, he almost takes him over the edge right there, but decides against it. He wants to feel Lee come around his cock, so he pulls out his fingers and slides in, still faster than Lee would consider normal. 

But he was the one who asked for it rough, and this was barely bordering on rough, really. A second of adjusting and it felt amazing. He was really going at it, and after all the attention Richard had lavished on his with his fingers, Lee was a ball of tension just begging to be explode. 

It took no more than three minutes of deliberate, forceful thrusting to send Lee right over the edge, letting out another one of those howling screams that was unmistakably pleasure and drove Richard positively mad. It didn’t take much to get Richard coming, Lee looked back at him and smiled gratefully, and it was all over with that. He panted as he fell onto Lee’s back, his chest hair doing delicious things to Lee with every exhale. After a minute, Richard became fully aware of how heavy he must be, and moved off Lee, who let out a whimper. 

“I miss you.” he said with a pout. Richard wrapped an arm around him, pulling him in for a kiss. 

“I’m not going anywhere.” He promises. And Lee believes him.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
You can do this, Pace. You have this. Lee hadn’t had to pep talk himself before a show since college, but he wasn’t really pep talking himself for the show. 

“It’s alright to be nervous.” Richard says from his perch, lounging on the couch of Ian’s office. Orlando had taken the green room, and Lee didn’t particularly want to spending his warm up time with him. Evie had (of course) explained the situation to Ian, who had smiled, winked as if he knew exactly what Lee was going through, and generously offered him used of his office. When he’d noticed how close Richard was standing to Lee, he had made sure to let Lee know that he was welcome to get prepared in any way he needed. 

And it wasn’t as if the thought of a good-morning blowjob to help calm the nerves of talking to Orlando and more so, talking to Luke, wasn’t enticing. But Lee had seen some of the boys Ian had invited into his office. There was no way there wasn’t at least one hidden camera stashed away and on at that very moment. 

So he settled for walking over to Richard, putting his head on Richard’s and taking a kiss. 

“I just don’t like it.” He says. 

“It’s only...4 or 5 times your regular audience.” Richard tries to help. 

“Try more like 40 or 50. But it’s not that I’m worried about.”

“Luke?”

“Exactly.”

“Lee, I know that you two didn’t end on the best of terms, but…”

“Don’t even try that on me...Mr. My-Ex-wife-is-a-saint.”

“Alright. Fair enough. All I mean to say is, you’ll get through this.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because, you’re amazing.”

“I am not.”

“Yes, you are. You’re utterly amazing, and I love you. Lee..What’s your middle name, Lee?”

“Oh my god, how can you love me if you don’t know my middle name?”

“It never came up in conversation. Was I supposed to steal your passport to find out?”

“That’s how I found out yours.”

“You STOLE my passport?”

“Well...I mean..I put it back..Crispin.”

“Ugh.” He grabs Lee’s ass, and stealthily removes his wallet from his back pocket. “You had better have an equally terrible middle name” he threatens as he takes a look at his license, then quietly puts it away and hands Lee back his wallet. 

“Well?”

“You win.” Richard grabs Lee by the shirt collar and pulls him close, their noses are almost touching. “I still love you, Lee Grinner Pace.” he says before pulling him down further for a kiss. 

Before they have time for Lee to reconsider his fears over hidden cameras, there’s a knock on the door. 

“Put your pants back on and get out here, you two.” They hear Evie say, and laugh as she walks away. 

They’re still smiling at each other as they walk down the hall, all the way up until the second they see Luke and Orlando. Luke is messing with Orlando’s hair. 

“Will you stop fucking with it? It’s radio, no one cares.” Orlando says, swatting away Luke’s hand. Luke brings it right back to the errant strands and pushes them back again to no avail. 

“I care.” He says, and then pulls Orlando in for a kiss that would definitely not be that deep if he hadn’t seen Lee walking up, holding Richard’s hand. Richard instantly looked over, assuming that Lee would think, like he did, that this all seemed a bit primary school, only to see Lee seething. He squeezed Lee’s hand, attempting to keep him focused, and it seemed to help, though Richard could already see the tension building in his neck. 

Luke finally deigns to acknowledge their existence. Or rather, Orlando does. He pulls back from the obnoxious display of the kiss (fun as it was, Orlando really isn’t one for unnecessary PDA) and runs up to Lee. 

“Lee!” He says, wrapping him in a hug (what was that about unnecessary PDA?) which Lee returns, noting the way Luke watches them. He can’t tell if he’s jealous or turned on. Of course, there’s no reason he couldn’t be both. “It’s so good to see you.” Orlando releases him. 

“It’s only been a few weeks.” He says. 

“Even so...Thanks for doing this. I know you’re more of a night owl.”

“Oh, yeah...no problem.” They stand there, the four of them, awkwardly, for a moment, until Evie comes in to rescue them. 

“Alright. You two know where to go.” She turns to Luke and Richard. “I’ve got a place for you lot, too.” They follow her, there are a few seats set outside- they can see the action, but aren’t crowding up the booth, where, for some reason, Ian has decided to sit in on what was meant to be an uneventful morning show. Because Lee definitely needed the owner and schedule manager sitting in when he was already nervous about Luke watching him. 

Luke had been his scheduling manager before he’d made a pretty substantial switch to talent representation. They’d met when he’d hired Lee, and he didn’t leave until they were a solid couple. If it weren’t for Orlando, Luke never would have been able to make his career change, but then, if it weren’t for Lee, Orlando might never have gained the following he’d needed to get signed on what was looking like a very big career. 

And everyone was right, Lee and Orlando had a great back and forth. Lee’s aversion to the situation was quickly melted away by Orlando’s quick wit and sweet nature. Luke was hanging on Orlando’s every word, but Richard could tell he was focused on Lee, too. He took a millisecond to look back at Richard and know he’d been found out. Not everyone could read Luke, but Richard was finely tuned. He smiled at Richard then turned back to watching Orlando. 

“Lee does this thing...With his tongue.” 

Richard did not want to hear this. He quickly scanned his brain for any other topic of conversation and came up blank. Kicking himself as he heard the words come out of his mouth. 

“He does a lot of things with that.”

“I was talking about a specific...You’ve only been going out what? A few weeks? He probably hasn’t shown you yet.”

“A few months. And I suppose I’ll have something else to look forward to.”

“I’m sure you will.” And, thankfully, Luke stops there. For a minute, while there’s a song on and Lee and Orlando are smiling and laughing about a mutual acquaintance. But for whatever reason, he can’t help himself. “He really is a little firecracker, isn’t he?”

“I suppose so.” 

“Don’t mistake me, Orlando is amazing, but you have to admit, Lee just has it.” 

“I wouldn’t really be able to compare.” Luke turns around to look at him, and Richard gets the distinct feeling that he’s being appraised. 

“Well, if you ever had the hunger to…” Evie, the angel she is, pops in at that moment, and asks them if they want anything to drink. 

Richard is grateful, and walks with her through the booth and to the kitchen for a bottle of water. 

“He’s intense.” He admits to her. 

“Luke? Yeah. Pretty easy to get under your skin.”

“Or whatever else.”

“Word to the wise, perhaps don’t tell Lee about Luke propositioning you.”

“I think that would be the right choice.” Richard laughs. 

“At least we’ve only got five more minutes.” She says. Richard takes a drink of his water, grabs another bottle, and smiles at Evie. 

“At least there’s that.” He says before taking his leave and walking through the booth to take his seat. Lee looks up and Richard smiles at him, all he needed to get through the last minutes. 

When they’re done, Orlando walks directly out to Luke, who congratulates him with a hug and a pat on the back. 

“Job well done.” He tells him, arm still around his shoulder. Richard has nothing else to do but smile while he waits for Lee to make his way through the booth where Aidan is no doubt critiquing him on minute details. When he finally gets out there, Luke rushes past Richard to give Lee and congratulatory hug, which he awkwardly accepts. “You were, as usual, fantastic.” He smiles, and extracts himself from Luke’s arms, side stepping to stand with Richard. 

“Thanks.” 

“What do you say to a celebratory drink?” 

“It’s 11.”

“What do they say? 5 o’clock somewhere.”

“Maybe a rain check?” He deflects, without showing even a hint of emotion, though he squeezes Richard’s hand just a little too hard for comfort. 

“Right, whatever you’d like.” Lee looks at Richard. 

“We gotta run… Orlando, always a pleasure.” Orlando nods. It was always fun to see Lee. “Luke..nice seeing you, too.” And they’re off like a flash, out a side door, down a hallway, and into the blinding light of day neither one of them is accustomed to. 

“You’re in an awful hurry to leave.”

“Gee, I wonder why that would be.” Lee says as he unlocks his car. Richard gets in with him. 

“Alright, I’m only teasing you...You were fantastic today, though.” 

“You were listening?”

“Of course, what else would I have been doing?”

“Nothing...Luke has a way of being...distracting.”

“I suppose. If you let him.” Lee laughs. 

“I guess so. Ian agreed with you…”

“That’s because I’m right.”

“He asked me to be the substitute for the morning show.”

“Lee! That’s amazing!”

“Not really, it means I’m gonna have to be awake during the day, my schedule is gonna be all fucked up like this all the time…”

“Well, only when you have to substitute.”

“Yeah… but still.”

“So, you’re not going to take it?”

“Are you kidding? Of course I’m going to take it. Even if I didn’t want to, Evie is going to take it for me.”

“You’re still cross? Even after the interview is over and done with?”

“I’m not cross… I’m annoyed.”

“Semantics.” They reach Richard’s place and Lee parks the car. 

“I will say this. There is one perk to being up this early.”

“What’s that?”

“Fooling around with you at lunchtime.” Richard smiles, because he’s been doing it all day, and he can’t help himself when he’s around Lee.  
“That is a very nice perk.” He says, and they race each other down the stairs to his apartment.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
They’re lying in bed, after what might be some of the best blow jobs of all time. Getting off is great, but Richard simply cannot get enough of the way Lee’s head feels, resting on his arm. He’s got his hand on Lee’s chest, and while he could easily put his fingers around a nipple, no doubt starting round two of their lunch time tryst, he doesn’t, enjoying the simple pleasure of having this moment, here, with him. 

“You should move in.” He hears himself say. And then, the unmistakable quiet of someone shocked by an utterly insane proposition. What had it been? Maybe three months. There was no way rushing things that much ended well. And they were happy like this. What was the rush anyways? A million thoughts flooded Richard’s head, all of them cursing his stupid, stupid tongue. 

“Huh… I don’t think so.” Lee responds. And it’s the right answer, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t burn like hell. Lee moves in Richard’s arms to face him. “I mean, this place is barely big enough for you alone.” So, there it is. He could have been honest, it was too soon, they didn’t know each other well enough yet, Richard was a complete pig and Lee didn’t look forward to cleaning up after him. He appreciated the subtle white lie about his apartment’s admittedly cramped size. It was a soothing salve over Richard’s ridiculous proposition. Lee moves onto his other side, facing away from Richard and yawning. “We should probably look for something bigger.”

“What?” Richard wasn’t sure he’d heard that last part correctly. 

“Like, at least a proper one bedroom. Though, I think between the two of us, we could probably swing something a little nicer.”

“Are you serious?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“We’ve been dating for 3 months?”

“When it’s right, it’s right. And remember, you’re the one who asked me.” Richard wraps his arms around Lee, moving on to his side, pressing their entire bodies together. 

“You’re right.” he says, and kisses Lee’s neck. “I did.” And then, he brushes his finger over that nipple and the games begin again.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Why are you up so early?” Richard asks. Lee’s fiddling with his phone on the other side of the bed, the blue light the only illumination in the whole room. 

“It’s 8, Richard.”

“You don’t have anywhere to be tonight.”

“Luke won’t stop calling.”

“Is everything alright?”

“It’s fine. He just wants to go out for a drink. He says he wants to apologize.” Richard lays back down. 

“Are you leaving now?”

“What? No. I’m not going, Richard.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t need his apology.”

“Might be good, get a little closure.”

“Might be a trap. Get a little date-raped.”

“Oh god, Lee. That’s not even a little bit funny.”

“Sorry. He just...he gets to me.”

“Which is all well and good. But you don’t honestly think he would…”

“No. Of course not. He’s a sleazeball. But he’s not that sleezy.”

“Then you really have no reason not to go.”

“Why do you want this so much, Rich? Got a hot date coming over?”

“I believe he’s already here. Complaining about his ex.” 

“Fine. But don’t do anything fun without me.”

“My dear, I promise you, there is nothing fun to do when you’re not around.” He says, and he turns on the television while Lee gets dressed.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The bar Luke’s chosen is smoky and deserted, and Lee wonders if he shouldn’t have insisted on McTavish’s, where there are always distracting people and music and just an absolute inability to have a real conversation. 

But that’s exactly why Luke has chosen this place, and Lee resigns himself to the prospect of actually talking. It isn’t hard to spot him at a corner booth. There aren’t that many people in the place, and Luke is dynamic and good looking. He has a confidence that draws you in, even in crowded rooms. 

He jumps up when he sees Lee, gives him another unwanted hug. 

“So good to see you.” He says, still clinging to him just as long as he can. 

“Sure.” Lee extracts himself from Luke and sits down. Luke follows suit. 

“I think we have a few things to talk about.” He tells him. Lee looks around for a waitress, and realizes there isn’t one. He stands back up, deciding to walk to the bar. 

“After I get a drink.” he says, and walks away.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Richard flips through station after station. Nothing is on. Or rather, nothing he wants to watch is on. He turns off the TV and tosses the remote to the end of the bed, where it will most likely fall into the deep abyss that is his floor, never to be heard from again. 

He sighs, looking up at the ceiling, wondering why he’d pushed Lee to see Luke. He wasn’t jealous, wasn’t even nervous, really. Just...didn’t know what had compelled him to push. Lee had agreed to it, so there must have been at least some part of him that wanted to hear what he had to say...or say something to him. 

And it really wasn’t his business to worry about. If Lee wanted to talk to him about it, he would, when he wanted to. In the meantime, Richard needed something to distract himself with, so he didn’t start thinking about what Lee and Luke were doing. 

He resigned himself to picking up his acoustic guitar and a pad of paper. 

The last few years hadn’t been all that great for new material. He’d always relied on Graham for tweaking and molding lyrics around music, and his confidence was shot without liquid courage to help him along. Martin was supportive, but he had a full time job, he had kids, he had a surprisingly healthy relationship. The fact that he stayed with the band at all was a miracle. One Richard was incredibly grateful for. And Dean? Dean was a good kid. It wasn’t fair to call him a kid, but that was still how Richard saw him. Even after this many years, he hadn’t really connected with him. Graham had thought he could just leave and replace himself with anyone, and Dean was talented, he was smart and nice, but he couldn’t replace the years and the struggles and the trust that Richard and Graham had built. 

So, Richard had been going it alone, almost never writing anything, and even when he did, never finding enough in it that was good enough to show the guys, much less an audience.  
So, he resigned himself to a night of writing more music no one else would ever hear.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Hello?” Orlando didn’t recognize the number, but the hotel room had run out of distractions, and Luke was still out, doing god knows what with god knows who. 

“Come out with us.”

“Who is this?”

“Awe, man, you deleted my number? I gotta tell you, that really hurts.”

“Aidan?”

“In the flesh. Well, no really, but if you come down, in the flesh.”

“What could there possibly be to do in this town that’s worth me leaving my hotel room for?”

“Besides me?” 

“Rumor has it you’ve got your hands full.”

“Oh, so you’re listening to rumors about me, are you?”

“You’ve got a big head, Aidan.”

“Yeah, but you love it.”

“You know I’m with Luke now.”

“And look at that, he’s out with Lee.”

“What’s your’s name?”

“Dean. He’s downstairs with me. Come out and have some fun.” Orlando thinks about it for a minute. Aidan was a tomcat, an unapologetic flirt. But there was no harm in flirting. And there was also nothing to do. So Orlando got dressed and went downstairs, where they actually were waiting for him in the lobby. 

“What would you have done if I’d told you to fuck off?”

“Probably, we would have fucked off. But you and I both know you wouldn’t do that to me.” Dean is studying their back and forth. He can’t figure out if there’s a legitimate history there, or if Aidan is just amping up his flirting to get a rise out of him. Either way, he wasn’t going to let it work. Let Aidan do whatever he wanted. Dean didn’t own him. He didn’t even want to. And even if he did, which he didn’t, he wasn’t the jealous type. 

He couldn’t give a damn about the way Aidan’s arm lingered around Orlando’s waist. He definitely didn’t care if their hands brushed up against each other five or maybe even six times while they were grabbing their drinks at the same time. Why the hell would you even need to grab your drink at the exact same time as someone else? Not that it mattered, of course. Because Dean was NOT the jealous type, and even if he was, he certainly wasn’t going to get riled up over Aidan. 

Every time he didn’t get riled up, Aidan smiled at him. He was having a good time with Orlando, sure, but everything between them was playful banter, as it had always been. He just liked seeing Dean “not” all riled up. It was cute. 

Orlando was delightful, really, but he was also something of a lightweight, and Aidan and Dean dropped him back off at the hotel just around midnight. When they were walking outside, Aidan looked up at the stars. One of the perks of moving to podunk, nowhere, was the ability to see the stars. He grabbed Dean’s hand...not to be romantic or anything, but...it was cold, he needed the warmth...oh, who the fuck was he kidding? He just liked holding Dean’s hand. 

Dean, however, was in no mood for it, and pulled his hand back, shoving it in his pocket. 

“What was all that about?” he asked. 

“All what?” Aidan asked. 

“You and Orlando and you’re fucking kissy faces all night?”

“It was nothing. I just like making you jealous.”

“I’m not jealous!” He shouts, and then realizes he’s making a scene, even if no one’s there to witness it. “I could care less who you spend your free time with, Aidan.”

“That so?”

“Yes. You just don’t have to drag me along for it.”

“I wasn’t dragging you along. I was dragging Orlando along.”

“Could have fooled me.” Aidan pulls Dean by his jacket and plants a big kiss on him. It’s not romantic like it would be in the movies, it’s annoying because he’s annoyed at him. 

“I like you, Dean. Can you just accept it and declench a little?”

“I’m declenched, I’m cool as a cucumber.”

“And hung like one, too.” Dean has to block himself from Aidan’s groping. 

“You’re a pig.” Dean says for the millionth time that night. 

“Yeah, but I’m your pig.” Dean rolls his eyes… he’s complete fucking right.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lee desperately wishes he wasn’t here. He would do anything to be back in bed with Richard, instead of sitting here, pretending that anything Luke had to say was worth his time. He makes a mental note to kick Richard for convincing him to go in the first place. 

And then, Luke’s hand shoots out and grabs Lee’s. He hasn’t been following Luke’s soliloquy, so he has no idea if what’s happening is some sort of natural trajectory from the conversation, all he knows is his head is telling him that Luke is disgusting, and his body is craving so much more than the gentle caress he’s giving Lee’s wrist. 

“What would you say to a nice little romp...for old times sake?” He shoots Lee bedroom eyes that had always erased whatever arguments Lee had ever had with him. Lee moves his hand out of Luke’s reach, taking his drink and choosing his words carefully. 

“Don’t you think Orlando might have some objections to that?” 

“Orlando understands about you and me.” 

“Oh? Do you care to explain you and I to me?” 

“Lee, you can’t deny we had a great run.” 

“We did, until you started screwing your client behind my back.” 

“I’m not hearing a no, Lee.” 

“You’re not listening hard enough.” 

“I thought you liked that about me.” Lee swallows, because it takes all his might to make this next sentence sound credible.

“I don’t really like anything about you any more.” Luke moves his fingers over Lee’s wrist again. An electric chill surges through Lee’s body. Luke smiles like the devil, knowing the power he holds over Lee.

“Are you sure?” He asks. “I think I could make you remember a few things you liked.”  
Lee moves his hand out of Luke’s reach, again. 

“I”m sure.” 

He swallows the rest of his drink and stands up. Luke grabs him as he attempts to walk by. He looks up at him, and there’s almost a human emotion seeping through his eyes. 

“I know we haven’t done right by each other, Lee. I’m only trying to make it up to you.” 

Lee takes his hand back again, “That’s not how you make amends.” 

“Then what do you want me to do?” 

“How about apologize? How about showing even the least bit of remorse for what you did to me?” 

“Lee, you’re the one who left, you’re the one who left.” 

“You made me. Do you honestly thought I could have taken seeing you every day? Do you think I could have just sat there smiling when you talked about what your weekend plans with Orlando over coffee? Maybe someone out there can do that, but it’s not me.” 

“You’re not over me. Maybe another night together would get you there.” Lee rolled his eyes. Of all the bullshit ploys to play. He takes a step away. 

“Good night, Luke.” is the last thing he says, and he wishes it was the last thing he ever had to say to him. He doesn’t get in his car. He walks all the way back to Richard’s place, despite the cold, or maybe because he needs it.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Where’s the monitor for the right side?” Lee asks Aidan. They’re 6 hours from showtime and everything is NOT in place.

“Relax.” Aidan says. He pulls out the speaker and shows it to him. “I’m getting to it right now.” It had been ages since Aidan had done any actual roadie work, but he didn’t mind helping out, if only to watch Lee fidget like a junkie in need of a fix. He takes a look at him, messy hair, holey jeans, and the top button undone on his shirt. “You look like shit.” 

“Thanks.”

“Don’t you have a gala thing to get ready for?”

“Don’t you have a monitor to install?”

“I’m just saying, you should go hobknob with the big wigs in that.”

“The reception’s in 4 hours. In the meantime, we should have been doing sound checks eons ago, and I don’t have Dean’s monitor ready...who’s he gonna be pissed at about that?”

“I told you, I’m on it.” Aidan happily lugs his equipment to the other side of the stage. Lee was a real prissy bitch when he got nervous. It was a hell of a fun show to watch, as long as you didn’t get sucked into it too much. As he walks past Lee, he tells him. “Calm down, you’re useless like this.”

“How the hell am I supposed to calm down?”

“Go find Richard. I’m sure he’ll figure something out.” 

Lee rolls his eyes. Despite what Aidan thought, sex did not solve everything, and Lee had every right to be a bag of nerves. And then, like magic, there was Richard on the side of the stage, talking to Lara like it was nothing. Lee walked over. 

“Lee, oh my god, Lee, you look terrible, please tell me you’re going to change before the reception.” Lara says. 

“Of course. Thanks for the vote of confidence, though.” He hugs her. 

“Well, I for one, think you look wonderful.” Richard says.

“You’re biased.” 

“I know.” Lee smiles at him. Lara watches the exchange happening above her head. 

“You two are going to make me sick.”

“Any time you’re sick is most definitely Graham’s fault.”

“Lee, Richard and I were just talking about some good news.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t tell him yet, let it be a surprise.”

“No! I hate surprises. They just make me nervous.”

“Good, because I can’t wait. I just got back from the box office...we’re sold out for tonight.”

“Is that...isn’t that the point?”

“Of course. But it never happens, even with big names. This is huge.”

“I’m sure the puppies will be ecstatic.”

“No, it’s orphans.”

“Since when?”

“Since we changed it… you never come to any committee meetings.”

“Yeah, and now there are going to be full tummies at the orphanage, and a bunch of dead puppies.”

“And it’s all your fault.” Richard teases.

“I guess I should have come to the committee meetings.”

“There’s always next year.” Lee frowns. Why are they talking about next year? He hadn’t even finished this one… how could they start thinking about next year. 

“You won’t still be pregnant next year, Lara.” She doesn’t have anything to say to that, so she smiles and grabs Lee’s arm for a second. 

“I’ve got some other stuff to take care of for the reception.” She says, and she moves slowly towards the stairs. and out the door. 

“You don’t want to do this again, eh?” Richard asks. 

“Do you?”

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll find someone else for next year.”

“But if they asked you?”

“Well, I suppose that would depend on who was doing the asking.” Lee puts his head on Richard’s shoulder. 

“This is too much for me. I haven’t even written anything to say when I introduce you.” Richard rubs his back, lightly. 

“You don’t write anything before you go on air, do you?”

“No.”  
“And you’re still fantastic. So you’ll be fine.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Come on. There’s a shower in the dressing room. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“You look like you might need a shower, too.” Lee says, grinning from ear to ear as he stands back up fully. Richard laughs. 

“Maybe I do.” He says. “Maybe I do.” as they walk backstage together.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Have you told them yet?” Richard is lying on the couch, reading a magazine that he has absolutely no interest in as Lee gets out of the shower. 

“I’m going to. It’s just not time yet.”

“They aren’t going to hold that place forever.” By sheer luck, a two bedroom apartment that didn’t exist in the basement of Richard’s building, was ready for lease in January. 

“We’ve already put down a deposit. What are they gonna do?”

“You need to give Aidan and Evie time.”

“I will. Just let me get through the next 8 hours, ok?” Lee sits down, making Richard move his own long legs. He sits up and plants a kiss on Lee’s cheek. 

“Alright.” he says, and then lays back down, his dirty jeans on Lee’s just cleaned thighs.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Graham had been carting Lee around all night. He’d had three glasses of champagne and a couple of shots of whiskey and was greatly regretting that he was going to have to go onstage in a few minutes. 

Graham finally says he’s clear to go get ready, and Lee happily makes his exit, only to be stopped by Luke. 

“Fancy seeing you here.” He says, leaning on the doorframe and flashing Lee a roguish smile. 

“Yeah, it’s not like you would have known where to find me or anything.” Luke stands up, takes a few steps closer, and puts his hands on Lee’s bow tie. 

“You look adorable in this monkey suit, Lee.” he says, finishing up his straightening job. “But I prefer you in jeans.”

“Of course. Jeans are easier to take off.”

“Maybe I’ll see you in some at the after party.”

“Who says I’m going to the after party?”

“After all your hard work? You have to.” Lee side steps around Luke. 

“Yeah, well, If I don’t get over there to introduce your boyfriend, we’ll never get to the after party.” He says. 

“Catch you later, Lee.”

“Sure.” Lee takes a breath as he walks across the street to the venue, showing a pass a couple of times to get backstage, and thanking his lucky stars that he hasn’t caused a scene with Luke, who was definitely trying to push his buttons. 

“Oh, good! You’re here!” Lara says. She walks up to him, and grabs his arm. “So, I’m going to introduce you, and you’re going to say this.” She hands him some cards. He really wished she’d done this two days ago. He wasn’t always great with reading off cards. “And then introduce Orlando, alright?” Lee nods. He doesn’t want to make Lara feel any worse, but he’s looking at three cards full of her tiny, neat handwriting, and he’s really starting to freak out. She doesn’t seem to notice, and see’s Orlando walking out, who she desperately needs to talk too, and she runs after him. Lee still thinks pregnant women shouldn’t exert so much energy, but he doesn’t have the bandwidth to yell after her and freak out, so he simply walks deeper backstage, until he finds himself at Durin’s Gold’s dressing room.

He hadn’t meant to go there, but subconsciously, his mind knew that seeing Richard would calm him down. He knocks on the door, hoping against hope that Aidan isn’t there to scold him. Dean opens the door wide enough to see that it’s band members only. 

“Uh...am I interrupting anything?” 

“Nah. We’re just practicing our club handshake.” Dean says. Richard hops up and rushes to the door. 

“What’s wrong?” he asks. 

“Why does something have to be wrong? Maybe I’m just coming to say good luck… or do you have to say break a leg?”

“That’s for plays… Lee..what’s wrong?”

“Can I come in?” Dean steps away, and Richard guides Lee to the couch. 

“How’d you know something was wrong?” Lee asks.

“It’s written all over your face. Tell me.” Lee holds up the cards Lara’s given him. 

“I’ve got half an hour to memorize all of this.” Lee hands the cards off to an interested Dean, who flips through them. 

“I’m sure no one would mind if you read from the cards, Lee.” Richard says. 

“I can’t. I’m dyslexic. I’m going to fuck it up.”

“It’s not too much.” Dean says. “You can probably memorize it by then.”

“How do you figure?”

“We’ll read it out to you.” Richard says. 

“I can’t ask you to do that. You guys should be warming up.” Dean hands a card to Richard and a card to Martin. 

“We can warm up while Orlando’s on stage.” Martin tells him. 

“Seriously?” Lee asks. 

“Of course.” Richard starts reading the card. 

“Why are you reading it that way?”

“Iambic Pentameter, the beat will help you remember faster.”

“But it’s not written in Iambic Pentameter.”

“Lee, just listen.” Richard says. and they repeat the speech, over and over until Lara’s banging on the door, insisting that Lee better be ready. 

“How did she know I was in here?” Lee asked.

“Where else would you be?” Richard answers. 

Lee gathers up his notes, walks to the side of the stage, and watches as Lara walks out.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The show was fantastic. Orlando played half his about to debut album, then introduced Durin’s Gold, staying onstage for a surprise collaboration that Lee sincerely had no idea they’d been able to put together. 

Lee was a little nervous for the boys. He’d seen them play some fantastic shows, but never in a venue this big, and never to a sold out show. 

But his anxiety (as usual) was unwarranted. The second Richard came on stage, all well earned swagger, he owned the show. This was exactly what he was meant to be doing, and no one could convince Lee otherwise. Richard had the voice, the looks and the presence to be a star. 

Lee knew all the songs, all the music, every single beat, but it was like watching a completely different show tonight. Like falling in love all over again. He hadn’t realized what a total fangirl he was for Durin’s Gold. When Richard came off stage- not the end, just the pause before the encore, Lee was there, waiting with big doe eyes. 

“How was it?” Richard asked. He’d swallowed half a bottle of water and poured the rest over his head. It was incredibly distracting, took all of Lee’s strength not to pull him down to the floor right that very second...encore be damned. 

“Fantastic. I wish I had a bra to throw at you on stage.” Richard smiles devilishly, raising an eyebrow. 

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” He says. He smacks his lips against Lee’s before rushing back off stage. There’s still a roar of applause, and Lee watches from the sidelines as Richard’s eyes go wide, filled with the adoration of quite a few new fans. 

“We’ve...We’ve been working on something new.” He says. “And we want you to be the first audience to see it.” He sits down on the stage, attempting to get at eye level with everyone. It doesn’t work, but he looks adorable. “But you have to keep in mind, new material is raw.” he points to Dean and Martin. “And if the lyrics are shite, then you can’t blame these two. Alright?” there’s a roar from the crowd. “Good, this is just between us and the lot of you.” He gets back up. “This is called “The Greatest Part.” Richard takes the quickest glance towards the sidelines, just to make sure Lee is still looking. Then, the music starts and he’s pulled back into the performance. 

Your eyes, your heart,  
I knew I loved you from the very start.  
Your lips, your soul  
From the first touch, I couldn’t let you go

And when I had a need  
You always came to me.  
And when I had desire  
You lit my heart on fire. 

I won’t pretend to understand  
Why you’d let me be your man  
I’ll try to always earn it  
Even though I don’t deserve it.

You’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.  
You’re the sun, the moon and everything in between  
The greatest part is that I never thought I’d find you  
You’re the greatest thing I’ve ever seen  
The greatest part is that I never thought you’d love me  
You make me the greatest I’ve ever been.

Everything I am, Everything I pretend to be  
Everyone I know, Everyone I see  
I know it’s hardly fair  
But it just can’t compare.

What do you see in me?  
I can’t see what you’re seeing  
But I love you right back  
With every fiber of my being. 

It’s sappy, I’m crappy,  
I can’t believe I’m saying this  
But you make me so happy  
With every bloody kiss. 

 

You’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.  
You’re the sun, the moon and everything between  
The greatest part is that I never thought I’d find you  
You’re the greatest thing I’ve ever seen  
The greatest part is that I never thought you’d love me  
You make me the greatest I’ve ever been.

You’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.  
You’re the sun, the moon and everything between  
The greatest part is that I never thought I’d find you  
You’re the greatest thing I’ve ever seen  
The greatest part is that I never thought you’d love me  
You make me the greatest I’ve ever been.

When he’s done, Lee’s crying. He doesn’t want to be crying, he wants to be beaming with pride, because he is. Richard takes a few bows, thanks the crowd profusely, and hands the mic to Dean before he runs off stage, practically tackling Lee as he kisses him. Lee still has to walk back out, and he’s going to do it with stubble burn on his cheek. He doesn’t seem to mind. 

He sprints on stage, getting the tail end of the applause, and Dean hands him the microphone. 

“Durin’s Gold, Everyone.” Lee looks back, and Rich runs back on stage. He looks to the other wing. “And Orlando Bloom.” Orlando runs out. “Of course, Graham McTavish and Lara Pulver.” They walk on stage, too. “And the rest of our amazing committee. Thank you all for coming out, for helping us raise…” Lara looks at her clipboard. 

“19,000.”

“Nineteen Thousand dollars. And please, make sure to come back next year.”

There another round of applause, and Lee starts thinking that maybe, just maybe, he might stick around for next year…  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The after party is in full swing by the time Lee and Richard make it over, both needing a little time for some post performance endorphin release before they can see the rest of the crew. 

Evie is standing with Lara. Save Richard, they’re the only other sober people at the party, and even Evie is eyeing the wine. Lee grabs a glass and puts it in her hand. It’s like she needs an invitation to the party sometimes. 

“You two look well rested.” She says. There’s still a blush to Lee’s cheek and a mark on his neck that is just about covered by his shirt. He doesn’t say anything, just smiles. Aidan walks up alone and Lee notices Dean drinking with Martin in another corner. 

“Richard, I know a few people who have been looking for you.” Lara says, as if it isn’t obvious that she’s not too keen to be standing with Aidan. Lara takes Richard by the arm, and he waves goodbye as he’s hauled away by his ex-wife. 

“You know, Lee.” Aidan starts. “You’ve fucked up a lot since I’ve known you.”

“Thanks.”

“Just wait, I’m not finished. You’ve fucked up a lot, but this fuck up...moving here...This was a good fuck up.”

“Thanks, Man. Coming from you, that’s almost a compliment.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Don’t listen to Aidan… Good Job, Lee. It almost feels like you’ve found us a home.”

“Well, about that…” Lee says, and Aidan and Evie’s ears perk up. “Richard and I sorta found a place…”

“Like.. together?”

“Yeah...It was a really good opportunity and it just happened so quickly and-”

“Lee… It’s fine.” Evie says. 

“It is?” He asks, relieved. 

“Yeah. We can use your room as a pottery studio.”

“Since when do you do pottery?” Aidan asks. 

“Since mind your own business. Why do you care?”

“Actually, I do care.”

“Why?” Lee asked. 

“Because Dean is moving in.”

“And you need an extra room for that because…?”

“Because he’s living with me.” Evie and Lee both think Aidan makes an excellent point. 

“Even if it’s for good reasons, it is a sad day when our little triumvirate is breaking up.” Aidan says. 

“Well, we’ve still got a few weeks to get into trouble.” Lee says. 

“Well, I’ll drink to that.” Aidan says. 

After a few minutes of laughing about terribile shenanigans that they’d all gotten each other into, Evie gets bored, Aidan gets distracted by Dean, and Lee starts walking around until he spots Luke standing much too close to Richard. He walks up and puts his arm around Richard’s side in a move that was obnoxiously territorial. 

“How’s the night treating you?” Lee asks Luke. 

“Well. Very well, actually.”

“Where’s Orlando?”

“You know..about.”

“Lee, Luke was just telling me about Orlando’s label.” Richard says. 

“They’re a tiny thing, but eager, very hungry for talented artists.”

“Sounds interesting.” Lee says, letting go of Richard’s waist. “I’m getting another beer, but it sounds like you two have things to talk about.” He smiles as he sees Richard’s face, “Oh bloody hell.” Written all over it.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a list that no one needs:  
> Martin- Straight  
> Graham- Straight  
> Lara- Straight  
> Evangeline (Evie)- Ace  
> Richard- Bi  
> Dean-Bi  
> Orlando-Bi (Not mentioned)  
> Luke- Pan (Gay leaning) (Also not mentioned)  
> Lee-Gay  
> Aidan-Gay  
> Again, i don't think it really needs to be said, and you can read them however you want, but just in case you were wondering. 
> 
> Everyone knows My Big Fat Greek Wedding, right? 
> 
> Does anyone else use the term dick sisters? I got it from a friend a couple of months ago, and now I find way too many reasons to use it. 
> 
> I don't know anything about the music industry. I go to two or three concerts a year, and I haven't been to a local band since my Brother In Law moved to Portland 3 or 4 years ago. I also haven't been to a radio station since I was like...8? so I don't know how radio works either. 
> 
> Oh, and the last thing I know nothing about, I am really disappointed in the fact that I cannot write songs, so if you're reading the lyrics to "The Greatest Part" and thinking "God, that was a terrible song... why would Lee care about that? I would break up with some one who wrote something so shitty." please keep in mind that I am sort of the furthest thing in the world from a lyricist and I'm SORRY, ok? I wrote it about an hour before turning this in, and I'm not a writer, ok? 
> 
> Also, Lara Pulver (BBC's Sherlock's "Woman") played Richard's sister in the absolutely horrible BBC's Robin Hood, and she (like Richard) was one of the very few good things about that show. But as talented as they both were, there was sort of this incest-y vibe going on between them. I don't know Richard's whole CV, but I couldn't think of a single co-star that he'd played that sort of intense sexual energy with. So that's why she's his ex in this story. Please feel free to let me know if I'm not the only one with Richard/Lara feelings (In the past, obviously, because how could you even think about other people if you were going home to Lee Pace?)
> 
> Also...this was supposed be nice little fic that exploded just a little bit...but I suppose if you're reading the novel length notes I'm writing here, you already know I tend to go a little long.


End file.
